THE GREY CROW, 
313 
menagerie at the Falls, where a novel experiment to get rid of 
them was resorted to. Four young birds in a nest were pinioned, 
in expectation that their parents would continue feeding them, 
until affording an opportunity for their being shot or trapped. 
Disappointment was however the result, as the old birds, on 
returning to the nest, and perceiving the mutilated state of 
their progeny, left them to perish. 
Two grey crows were once observed in pursuit of a full-grown 
rabbit, in a large field, at Springvale (Down). The chase was con- 
tinued only whilst the rabbit ran : — when squatted, they never 
attempted to molest it. The chase was continued for some time. 
According to the testimony of several of the wild-fowl shooters 
of Belfast bay, grey crows are not uncommonly seen in pursuit 
of the smaller shore-birds ( Grallatores ) ; and two of my informants 
were witness to a couple of these crows pursuing a merlin 
(. Falco JEsalon), which had captured a sandlark ( Tringa vari- 
abilis ) until the prey was dropped by the hawk, when it was picked 
up, and borne off by one of them from the surface of the water. 
When these shooters kill great numbers of sandlarks at a shot, 
with their punt or swivel- guns, the grey crows, which are always on 
the beach, are sure to carry off several of the wounded in their 
bills, before the men can reach the spot. The cries of the 
poor sandlarks when thus seized, are described even by the fowlers 
to be most piteous ; greatly more so, than when they lay hold of 
them. A pet buzzard ( Buteo vulgaris), kept at Fort William, was, 
when flying about the demesne, always persecuted by grey crows. 
One of these birds was shot by a friend at Springvale, when it 
had young, and on the evening of the same day, he saw about ten 
grey crows come to feed the nestlings : they however died in the 
course of the night, which was very cold and wet. When engaged 
in the construction of their nest, they are more heedless of 
enemies than at other times, and then occasionally fall victims to 
the gun : but if one should be killed, the survivor is soon pro- 
vided with another mate. At this early stage of the breeding- 
season, as remarked at “the Falls,” near Belfast, neither these 
birds nor magpies, were mated again for three or four days. A 
