BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 123 
The produce is birds of intermediate plumage ; but we 
have never been able to trace them again breeding, or for 
any long period."* A hybrid, such as described, from 
Jardine Hall was in Sir William Jardine's collection. f 
Thomas Maxwell told Dr. Grierson in 1862 that " The 
Royston Crow or the light-coloured variety of the Hooded 
Crow is occasionally met with, and will breed with the 
Carrion-Crow."{ Mr. J. MacCarfrae sent me, for my 
collection, such a hybrid which he shot from her nest on 
June 11th, 1908, in Carco Glen (Kirkconnel). He sub- 
sequently wrote me : " The bird I sent was the female. 
I am sorry I could not get the male bird as it fell into the 
nest which was built on a very tall tree, branchless for a 
long way up and situated in a very precipitous place. 
However, standing on the brow above, I could see the back 
of the bird very well, and I am almost certain it was a 
Carrion-Crow. After it fell into the nest the two young 
ones flapped out and came to the ground, where I got hold 
of them as they were too young to fly properly." My 
informant brought them up in captivity ; and I saw them 
at the Holm (Sanquhar) in March, 1909. So far as I could 
see, one resembled a Hooded, the other a Carrion-Crow. 
The parent female has the nape and hind-neck ash-grey and 
a broad band of the same colour across the upper breast, 
the rest of the plumage being black glossed with greenish- 
blue. 
Another instance of this hybrid breeding, has I beUeve, 
occurred at Raehills (Johnstone). 
On May 23rd, 1853, a " Hooded Crow was shot by AHx 
McClunie, coachman to Mr. Maxwell of Gribton, and has 
been sent to William Hastings, Flesher, to be stuffed. . , . 
The Crow had been seen on the estate of Gribton for seven- 
teen years. His back and belly are of a beautiful ash- 
grey, which chiefly distinguishes the Hooded from the 
* Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 234. 
t Cat. Birds in Coll. Sir W. J., p. 128 (5189), a. 
% Grierson's MS. Diary, October 17th, 1862. 
