CROW. 13 



Crows are said by M. Landt* to be singularly troublesome in the 

 Ferroe Islands, deriving- great part of their subsistence from plunder ; 

 picking seeds from the field; digging up the newly planted potatoes ; 

 destroying barley before it is ripe ; cutting off* cabbage roots, and 

 those of almost every other garden vegetable ; devour the fish which 

 is hung up to dry, and carry off* goslings and ducklings ; will often 

 enter houses where people are sitting, in search of prey ; and also 

 feed on shell-fish, which they let fall on the rocks from a considerable 

 height. Mr. L. talks of their extraordinary assemblies or Crow- 

 courts ; from which it may be suspected that the birds he talks of 

 may be Rooks, and not Crows.f 



The Rook, as well as the Crow, varies in plumage, being some- 

 times found quite white, even the bill. I have also seen others black 

 and white ; and one quite brown, the colour of a Jay. 



6.— ENCA CROW. 



Fregilus Enca, Cuvier, Lin, Trans, xih. p. 164. 



LENGTH seventeen inches. Plumage, for the most part, glossy 

 blue-black, beneath more dull ; forehead, cheeks forwards, and chin 

 black ; the lower and posterior parts of the space surrounding the 

 eye are naked. 



Inhabits Java ; known there by the name of Enca. Dr. Horsfield 

 refers, for the general characters of the Genus Fregilus, to Cuvier, 

 and gives only the above short description. From the length, it should 

 appear to equal a rook in size, except the excess is made up of the 

 length of tail, which is not mentioned. 



* Description of the Ferroe Isles. 



t A curiosity now presents itself in the Tower of London. It is of a Rook's nest lately 

 erected, and inhabited in the centre of the Crowns that surmount the weather-cock on the 

 top of the White Tower.— Salitb. Journ. Ap. 3. 1815. 



