430 Birds. 



Notes on the Birds of Sussex. By A. E. Knox, Esq., M.A. 

 (Continued from p. 230). 



The carrion crow (Corvus Corone), though a well known bird in 

 many parts of Sussex, more especially frequents the wooded districts 

 north of the Downs during the spring and summer, where, notwith- 

 standing the dangers to which he is occasionally exposed from bird- 

 nesting boys, and vigilant gamekeepers, the species seems to have 

 found a strong hold, and does not appear to be sensibly diminishing. 



After the bursting of the leaf it is extremely difficult to discover his 

 haunts ; so shy and solitary are his habits, that two nests are seldom 

 to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of each other : and here 

 amidst forests of oak, and dense thickets, interwoven with briars and 

 brush-wood, he dwells in comparative security, and has ample oppor- 

 tunities of indulging his vagrant habits, and his predilection for all 

 kinds of animal food. Besides the young of small quadrupeds, car- 

 rion of all kinds, and the eggs of pheasants, partridges and poultry, 

 he is particularly partial to a species of fresh-water muscle (Anodon 

 Anatina) which abounds in all the brooks and ponds in the clay dis- 

 trict of the weald of Sussex, and from this circumstance has, among 

 the country people in those parts, acquired the name of " crow muscle.'''' 



After continued and heavy falls of rain, the meadows in the neigh- 

 bourhood of these brooks are flooded to a considerable extent, and 

 quantities of this shell-fish, disturbed from the muddy bed of the 

 stream, are carried over and deposited on the banks, where they re- 

 main high and dry after the falling of the water. On such occasions 

 the carrion crow is not idle : as the floods retire he may be seen is- 

 suing from the neighbouring woods, expressing his delight, or an- 

 nouncing his discovery to his mate by hoarse croakings, soaring on 

 extended wings along the edge of the flood, but checking his progress 

 every now and then to seize and devour a newly exposed muscle. 

 Presently another may be observed parading up and down the banks, 

 wading knee-deep in the shallower parts of the stream, and anxiously 

 watching the receding waters ; occasionally plunging in his head and 

 dragging forth a prize, which he demolishes in the same manner as 

 he would an egg : the shell being brittle, two or three smart blows of 

 his beak suffice to break it, and the contents disappear in a moment. 



Immense quantities of this shell-fish are found in the numerous 

 small ponds which form so distinguishing a feature in the wooded 

 scenery of the weald, and attract the attention of all strangers who vi- 



