JACKDAW. 
CORPVS MO NEBULA. 
In almost every town I have passed through, between Inverness and Penzance, I recognized this species as a 
resident. The wildest districts are also resorted to. Like his constant companion the Rook, this lively bird 
adapts himself to circumstances, and seems as much at his ease in the midst of the noise and hustle of a 
city as in the lonely retirement of some lofty precipice among the inland mountains or on the rocks in the 
neighbourhood of the sea-coast. 
Jack is generally supposed to be a mischievous rogue; but I had always believed his character, like that 
of another black party, was not so bad as it was depicted. One summer, however, when living in Perthshire, 
I required a young bird of this species, in order to compare with the young of the Grey Crow ; and on 
examining some nests I discovered the shells of dozens of Grouse-eggs which had been destroyed. The 
remains of the eggs were scattered over the ledges, and also in the cracks and crevices of the rocks among the 
nests, plainly showing that the robbers had, in some instances at least, conveyed their plunder to their 
quarters. It was too late that season to do much good by exterminating the colony, as the mischief was 
already accomplished. Early the next spring I took forcible measures to prevent them from breeding in their 
old haunts; and the following season the Grouse on the adjoining beat were nearly doubled. The whole of the 
ground within about a mile of the rocks where the Jackdaws nested had till now been perfectly worthless, 
never more than a few pair of barren birds being found there. In order to prevent these mischievous brutes 
returning to the corrie they frequented, it was necessary to be continually on the watch ; and numbers were 
killed before they took the hint that their presence was not required. At last the survivors moved to a 
fresh station further up the glen ; but I believe that in a few years they gradually reappeared at their old quarters. 
I never detected Jackdaws doing much harm to game in England, though I have been assured by 
shepherds and keepers that they occasionally managed to search out the early Partridges’ nests on the downs 
in the south. This charge is probably correct ; but, like their cousins the Rooks, they effect an immense 
amount of good ; and, if weighed in the balance, I have not the slightest doubt that the benefits they confer 
would more than compensate for the taxes they levy on the game-preserver and farmer. 
The greatest injury and annoyance that is caused by these birds may, 1 think, be ascribed to their 
pertinacity in choosing as breeding-places situations where their nests are particularly undesirable. Chimneys 
are frequently blocked up by the immense collections of sticks they bring together ; and the quantity of litter 
they carry into the towers of churches and other buildings at times seems almost incredible. Great numbers 
resorted many years ago to the ruins of the disused portion of Battle Abbey, near Hastings ; and here they 
caused considerable damage to the conservatories and forcing-houses in the gardens. On some of the glass 
they managed to throw down old pieces of stone, mortar, and other refuse that they scratched out when clearing 
their quarters on commencing operations in the spring. On other parts they continually dropped sticks and 
twigs that they were bringing to form their nests. To drive them away in any manner except by constant 
