NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 139 



or five in number. This species feeds on small mammals, young birds, 

 eggs, and all sorts of carrion and refuse, and the damage done in game- 

 preserves by a single pair of these birds is almost incredible. 



South "Wales, May. 



Presented by Lord Kensington. 



No. 6. JACKDAW. (Coloeus monedula.) 



A common resident and generally distributed over the British 

 Islands. Tt is equally at home on cliflFs, church-towers, ruins, in rabbit- 

 warrens, or among the old trees of wooded districts. It builds its 

 nest in a recess or fissure of a rock or wall, ia a rabbit-burrow, or in a 

 hole in a tree, sometimes amassing an immense quantity of sticks to 

 raise the nest to within a convenient distance from the entrance. 

 Smaller twigs, avooI, or other soft materials form the bed for from four 

 to six bluish-green eggs, marked with greyish and brownish spots. 



Sussex, May. 



Presented by W. R. Ogilvie- Grant, Esq. 



No. 7. HOODED, or GREY CROMT. 



(Corvus cornix.) 



The Roystou Crow, as this species is also called, visits England and 

 Wales from October onwards in large numbers, while in the north and 

 west of Scotland and in Ireland it is resident. In its habits, food, 

 and mode of nesting it closely resembles the Carrion-Crow, with which 

 it not infrequently interbreeds. 



Ross-shire, June. 



Presented by Captain S. G. Reid and W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Esq. 



No. 8. MAGPIE. (Pica pica.) 



A woodland bird, resident and common in the British Islands. In 

 many districts it is much persecuted and has been almost exterminated 

 on account of the damage it does to the eggs and young of game and 

 other birds. The nest, which is generally placed high up in the fork 

 of a tree, but often in tall hedges and thorn-bushes, is large and 

 composed of sticks, those of the base being cemented with mud or 

 clay ; the inside is lined with rootlets, and the whole covered with a 

 roof of sticks. The eggs, from six to eight in number, are greenish, 

 with small purple and brown markings. 



Leicestershire, April. 



Presented by Theodore Walker, Esq. 



L 2 



