fifh, and on any kind of animal fubftance it meets with, 

 whether putrid or frefh ; it attacks young lambs and weakly 

 fheep, the eyes of the latter it firft aflails, and like the hooded 

 crow moftly fucceeds if the animal is incapable of rifing ; it 

 is very bold and daring, it will frequently alight on the backs 

 of cattle to fearch for vermin. On the failure of other food 

 it eats grain. 



To the fportfman it is a continual plague, as it flies 

 from tree to tree, proclaiming to its companions the approach 

 of danger ; if a fox, or any other wild animal pafTes within its 

 view, it follows it, and continues uttering its harm chatter 

 from time to time, and by this, will give fure information 

 which path it may have taken ; almoft all kinds of game take 

 alarm on hearing its note, and will generally keep in fecurity 

 till its noife has ceafed. 



Their neft is formed of fmall branches of the thorn, woven 

 together with the thorns outwards, which is a good protection 

 to the young ; the entrance is on the fide, and is only fuffici- 

 ently large to permit a free paflage ; the bottom part of the 

 neft is plaiftered with clay, into which it thrufts the coarfe 

 ends of fibrous roots, and fometimes grafs, leaving the finer 

 parts as a lining. They lay fix or feven eggs of a yellowifii 

 white colour blotched with brown ; they lay very early in the 

 fpring, and begin to build about the firft week in Februar^- 



ln Sufifex we have been fhewn two kinds of this bird, one 

 called the Tree and the other the Bum Pie, the former has a 

 longer tail, and is of a wilder difpofition and not able to 

 talk ; they are there efteemed as a diftincl fpecies : we conceive 

 them to be merely varieties, perhaps only differing in fex or 



age, 



