BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 121 
that he once found one in a holly bush in a glen near Moffat. 
Their nesting-sites are usually chosen well away from the 
haunts of man, but " Mabie Moss " writes : " On the well- 
known tree in Buccleuch Street, Dumfries, a pair of Carrion- 
Crows had settled and nearly completed a nest in the early 
part of last month [i.e., April, 1890], a place incom- 
patible with their usual haunts and habits "* ; but 
the birds left without utihzing it. Mr. R. Armstrong 
writes me that he once saw a nest in Gilchristland Glen 
(Closeburn), mainly built of sheep's bones, and beautifully 
cushioned inside with sheep's wool and rabbit's fur. 
In the winter months this species often becomes numerous 
on the sea-shore and on the estuaries of our rivers, where 
it not only feeds on various offal, but picks to pieces any 
wounded wildfowl. 
Specimens with malformed beaks are from time to time 
recorded ; one such bird from Kelton (Dumfries) was shot by 
Mr. Watt in November, 1832, and was in good condition 
although " The upper mandible was so much curved over 
the lower as to make it appear almost impossible for the 
bird to feed."f A bird showing a similar abnormality was 
shot at Capenoch (Keir) on March 18th, 1903, in which 
the lower mandible was half an inch longer than the upper, 
and both were fuUy half an inch out of the straight. 
In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, there is a 
remarkable specimen which is of a curious cafe-au-lait 
colour all over. It was presented, so I am informed by 
Mr. Eagle Clarke, by Mr. J. Shaw-Stewart in October, 
1870, and is entered in the Museum catalogue as " shot in 
Dumfriesshire a few months ago." 
The two species C. corone and C. comix are known to 
interbreed, and their size, shape and habits are much alike ; 
but I think it is worthy of note that the dictum, abeady 
quoted, of William Stewart of Hillside (in his account of 
the parish of Hutton and Corrie, written over one hundred 
* Dumfries Courier and Herald, May 1st, 1890. 
t Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, May 12th, 1893. 
