100 THE CROW FAMILY 



All the true crows and ravens were originally placed in the Genus Corvus which i? thus defined : 

 Birds with a stout compressed beak, straight at the base, arched a* the point, and straight at the 

 edges. The wings and tail long and graduated ; the feet powerful, with the metatarsus exceeding 

 in length the middle toe. 



The sexes are similar in colour, usually black, but often more or less glossed with green or purple 

 tints, the exceptions being the hooded crows and jackdaws. 



Six species are known in Great Britain and Europe, two of which have an extended range. 



The Common or Carrion Crow [Corvus i none). 



This is of a jet black colour, but smaller than the raven ; and is found in similar localities. As 

 its name implies, it feeds upon all kinds of carrion, though, at the same time, it often kills small ground 

 mammals. It is, however, specially disliked by the farmer and gamekeeper because of its partiality 

 to birds' eggs ; and on account of the damage done to game preserves, the gamekeepers shoot them 

 whenever they can catch them. Buckland specially mentions this crow as one of the birds nailed up 

 against the wall, as a warning against other evildoers, in the Gamekeepers' Museum. 



Bingley, writing of them in England in 1813, says : " They feed upon putrid flesh of all sorts, as 

 well as worms, insects, and various kinds of grain. Like the ravens, they will sometimes peck out the 

 eyes of young lambs just dropped. They also do much mischief in rabbit warrens by killing and 

 devouring young rabbits ; while chickens and young ducks do not always escape their attacks." In 

 the reign of Henry VIII., crows increased in such numbers in England, and became such a pest to the 

 farmers, that an Act of Parliament was passed ordering their destruction. " Every hamlet was ordered 

 to destroy a certain number of crows' nests for ten successive years ; and the inhabitants were called 

 upon to assemble on certain dates to consider the best methods of destroying them." In the early 

 part of the last century the inhabitants of New Jersey and Pennsylvania gave a rew ard of threepence a 

 head for crows ; but the Act was soon repealed, as it threatened to deplete the treasury. In the 

 United States of America this crow is a grain eater and damages crops. 



The Rook (Conms frugilegus). 



This bird is often also called the crow to distinguish it from the carrion crow. It is glossy black, 

 with the sides of the head and neck glossy blue. It is gregarious in habit, and at nesting time 

 forms communal nesting places, known as " rookeries." Here sportsmen often assemble at the end 

 of the season to shoot the young rooks just as they are about to fly ; and in England rook pie was 

 considered a great delicacy. 



This has been discouraged in modern times, as the farmers look upon the rooks as useful buds on 

 account of their insectivorous habits, though they also feed to a certain extent upon seeds. 



They sometimes congregate in enormous Hocks ; and there is a record that after a great storm 

 at Westmeath, Ireland, 30,000 dead rooks were counted on the shores of a small lake. At nesting 

 time, rooks are great thieves, stealing the material from each other's nests- hence the cant word, 

 " rooking." 



The Hooded Crow (Corvus comix). 



This bird is smaller than the carrion crow. The colouration of the plumage is very distinct, onlv 

 the head, throat, wings and tail being black ; the body feathers are grey, and in contrast with the 

 black head, give it the popular name of hooded crow. This is the species that is the deadly enemy 

 of the shepherds of the north of England and Scotland ; and it is particularly destructive in winter, 

 when ewes and lambs are lost and helpless in the snow, and other food is hard to find, 



