BLACK JACKDAW. 137 
Ir has been doubted by some modern ornithologists 
whether this bird is really distinct from, or only as 
considered by Latham, a variety of the Common 
Jackdaw. Degland says:—“This is a very doubtful 
species, I have never seen it. An individual, said to 
be this species, killed in a garden at Bergues, I am 
convinced is only a variety of the Common Jackdaw. 
The specimens indicated by M. Millet, in the ‘Faune 
de Maine-et-Loire,’ are also Common Jackdaws, 
according to M.de Lamotte, by whom they have been 
examined. Vieillot said that a young individual was 
in the cabinet of the Count di Riocourt, and an adult 
in the Museum of Natural History at Paris. M. 
Selys Longchamps has examined the Paris specimen 
and found it different, but thought that it had come 
from North America, because he found it formed part 
of a lot of skins bought in Poland, and among which 
were some American species,—among others Sylvia 
anthoides.” —“Orn. Europ.,” vol. i, page 321. 
But this after all is only negative evidence, and not 
of a very strong kind—for this species is not included 
among Prince C. Bonaparte’s “Birds of North America.” 
Schlegel admits it into the European Catalogue, but 
refrains from making any remarks upon it, because he 
had never seen the bird; and it is not included in 
Machado’s “List of the Birds of Andalusia,” published 
in 1854, though Spain has been said to be its head 
quarters. 
On the other hand it has been admitted as a species 
by Frisch in 1739-63; by Gmelin; by Brisson in 1760; 
by Vieillot m 1817; Temminck in 1835; and Bonaparte, 
Schlegel, etc., of more modern days. 
Brisson, one of the most correct naturalists that ever 
lived, describes it very minutely and clearly. Tem- 
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