2 COMMON BIRDS OF THE YANGTZE DELTA. 



skin. The Chinese name for the rook is Fong-o or wind 

 crow, probably referring to his habit of vaulting and soaring 

 against a high wind — a sport which he seems thoroughly 

 to enjoy. The rook is decidedly gregarious, remaining in 

 flocks throughout the whole year. The streets of Shanghai 

 are noisy with them all summer, and nesting colonies may 

 be seen in Soochow, Wusih, Chinkiang and many other 

 cities in southern Kiangsu. In winter their numbers are 

 largely augmented by visitors from the north. They feed 

 in large flocks over the fields by day and gather noisily to 

 some common roost for the night. 



With the rooks in the winter are found the two smaller 

 members of the crowfamily — the jackdaws. One is solid black — 

 Swinhoe's jackdaw (Corvus neglectus) or the black jackdaw — 

 and the other is white and black — the pied jackdaw {Corvus 

 dauriciis). They are both easily distinguished from the other 

 crows by their smaller size, being little over half as large. 

 The black jackdaw is a uniform dull black all over. The 

 pied jackdaw wears not only the white collar and tie of the 

 parson crow, but also a white vest which comes well down 

 over his whole under parts; but he does not keep his white 

 as spotlessly clean as does the parson. The two jackdaws 

 frequently interbreed, producing hybrids in which the white 

 is mixed with black or grey in varying amounts. Jackdaws 

 do not seem to nest in southern Kiangsu; but come in the 

 autumn with the immigrant rooks, and throughout the winter 

 mingle freely with them in the fields by day and on the roosts 

 at night. The Chinese name covers both species of jackdaws 

 siao-lao-o, (little crows), or mali-o (wheat crows, from their 

 fondness for scratching up the seed of fallen wheat sown in 

 the fields.) 



The five members of the crow family may be distinguish- 

 ed as follows : large purplish black with heavy arched bill 

 covered with feathers at base, usually solitary, the Big- 

 billed Crow; large greenish black with straight sharp bill 

 bare and whitish at base, usually in flocks, the Eastern 

 Rook; small dull black, usually in flocks mixed with 

 rooks, the Black Jackdaw; large black with white collar 

 and breast, solitary, the Parson Crow; small black with 

 white collar, breast and belly, usually in flocks with black 

 jackdaws and rooks, the Pied Jackdaw. 



The call of the five crows is in each case a characteristic 

 caw. That of the big-bill deep and resonant, of the 

 parson hoarse and gruff^, of the rook rasping and sharp, 

 whilst the two jackdaws imitate the rook's call but on a 

 higher key. 



Next to the crows naturally come the magpies. Two only 

 are common with us— the common magpie {Pica caii-data) 



