THE HOODED CliOW. 
135 
until at last the tips of his wings di])ped into the water, and 
then liis fate was decided. The poor wretch cawed and 
struggled most desperately, and made tremendous exertions to 
rise, hut this only hastened his end ; his feathers became satn_ 
rated, and soon his head drooped beneath the surface. Seeing 
him motionless, the Terns now appeared to be satisfied, and 
after a few more dashes towards his body, and a few more 
cries of anger, they returned peaceably to their nests. 
The Hooded Crow makes a most intelligent and interesting 
pet, but it requires to be kept in confinement, otherwise it will 
get into the house and do serious mischief. I have known one 
enter a window, carry off es^erything from a dressing-table^ 
and then completely destroy nearly the whole of the wall-paper, 
beginning at the cornice. It also proves very troublesome to 
children. The only variety I have ever seen had both sets of 
wing coverts white. 
Dr Arthur Edmondston, writing of the Hooded Crow, 
observes : — '' In the gardens at Busta, where there are several 
trees of considerable height, a pair of crows annually build their 
nest; but in every other part of the country they carefully 
conceal the spot in which they nestle.” The last sentence is 
scarcely correct, the nest being easily found. Compared with 
the Eaven, though not with most other Shetland birds, it is a 
late breeder, eggs being seldom found earlier than the middle 
of May. They are four or five, sometimes six in number, and, 
as a rule, precisely resemble those of the Carrion Crow ; 
occasionaUy they are much elongated, and I have some also 
which are nearly round. The nest is smaller in size than 
that of the Eaven, but is composed of much the same 
materials, and is built upon the ledge of a cliff, or among piles 
of loose rocks, sometimes inland, often in a cliff less than 
twenty feet in height. Although the Eaven displays much 
cunning in the choice of a site, the Hooded Crow, on the con- 
trary, seems to take no small pains to so place the nest that it 
shall be easily accessible to man. I am by no means a good 
climber, but I never saw more than one of these nests that was 
