262 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



further south than the locality given — e. g. in Yorkshire (Clarke and Roe- 

 buck), and in Essex (Miller Christy), — still its breeding in the eastern 

 counties (at any rate, anywhere south of Perth, Forfar, and Kincardine) 

 must be considered sporadic and exceptional. The latest book on breeding 

 areas of British Birds (' Nests and Eggs of British Birds,' by C. Dixon) is 

 in regard to this bird misleading ; for under the heading Corvus corone, the 

 writer says (p. 3): — "In Ireland it is rare and almost replaced by its close 

 ally the Hooded Crow ; the same remarks apply to Scotland, although it is 

 not so scarce." Now, far from being scarce, it is quite a common bird in 

 all the southern Scottish counties with which I am acquainted — Fife, 

 Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Haddington, Peebles, and Northern Dumfries — 

 while the Hooded Crow is merely occasional and sporadic. It is a curious 

 fact, and one that almost leads to the idea that the black Crow is pushing 

 northwards, and that the real Hooded Crow was once the prevalent form in 

 the Scottish lowlands, that by gamekeepers, shepherds, and country people 

 generally in that district the black Crow, Corvus corone is invariably called 

 a " Hoodie." It used to puzzle me a good deal when at school in Fife, 

 where several score of Hoodies' eggs were annually brought in, to under- 

 stand why they should be so styled, seeing that no vestige of a hood was 

 visible on any of the birds that laid the eggs. I have seen hybrids killed 

 at the nest in the county of Edinburgh, but the gamekeeper considered 

 them very uncommon. At an early spring roosting colony of forty or fifty 

 birds, almost within the bounds of the city of Edinburgh, not one of the 

 " Hoodies" was observed to have any grey about it. As regards the west, 

 and especially the N.W. of Scotland, no doubt Corvus cornice is the prevalent 

 form, but we have it on the authority of Messrs. Harvie Brown and Buckley 

 (' Fauna of Argyle,' p. 89), that Corvus corone is " abundant on parts of the 

 mainland " of Argyle. — Harold Raeburn (31, Clare Road, Halifax). 



March Cuckoos. — Nearly fifty years' experience has taught me the 

 unwisdom of dogmatism ; far be it from me therefore to assert that Cuckoos 

 have not been heard or seen in this country in March, or any other 

 unaccustomed month. Consequently, when interrogated on the subject, 

 I very guardedly replied, " such a bird as a * March Cuckoo ' has no place 

 in my experience," a statement of pure fact ; but unfortunately I did not 

 end there, and Mr. Grabham's courteous exposure of the weak spot in my 

 armour is the legitimate result. The Editor has correctly interpreted my 

 meaning (p. 225), but I should like to add that I was quite aware of the 

 very occasional occurrence of birds of this species during summer in the 

 reddish plumage of the first autumn ; though as they are excessively rare in 

 this country, it seemed to me hardly worth entertaining the idea that such 

 birds had, on at least several occasions, been detected at a time when even 

 the normal plumaged Cuckoo is not looked for. But perhaps I ought not 

 to have stated that a Cuckoo in immature plumage in March was an 



