HOODED CROW 97 
fourth edition, p. 279 (note), remarking: ‘That it does so’ | 
(z.e. breeds), ‘ however, annually in the Isle of Man seems to 
be established, and Dixon (Among the Birds in Northern 
Shires, p. 89): ‘They do not breed in the country’ (z.e. Eng- 
land), ‘if we except possibly the Isle of Man.’ The position 
of the Grey Crow in Man is indeed one of the points that 
tend to show that Man is not, zoologically, part of Eng- 
land, from which, politically and ethnologically, it is also 
separate. 
The ‘ Greyback,’ as it is called, is very characteristic of 
the isle, especially its wilder parts, and being very little 
persecuted, it maintains itself in fair numbers, and breeds 
all round the rocky coast, as well as more sparingly in the 
highlands and glens. It wanders a good deal over the 
country, especially in winter, and quests the low-lying 
shores of the north and south, and the sands of the bays. 
A few may be seen in the fields, sometimes with Rooks, or 
on the moorlands, but all the year round the tide-rocks of 
the more craggy coasts are its favourite feeding-ground, and 
its presence is often marked by quantities of empty shells 
of limpets (called ‘ flitters’ by the Manx) left on a selected 
spot. The Hooded Crow has something of a Raven’s love 
of a look-out post, and one or two may frequently be seen 
perched on a jutting point or isolated crag, conspicuous by 
their pied plumage, and ornamental to the wild scenes they 
love. Greybacks are usually rather silent birds, unlike many 
of the family, but during their slow flight they utter now and 
again a harsh croak. The abundance of shell-fish provided 
for them by their Manx haunt probably lessens the de- 
structiveness with which they are elsewhere often charged, 
but even here the character of the bird is far from clear 
among farmers. Mr. Kermode (Y. L. M, iii. 526) tells of 
a Crow which carried off a stoat from the Barony, Maughold. 
His informant, R. Corteen, said that when flying high over 
G 
