CARRION CROW. 
231 
of rising in the air, and allowing the shell to fall 
and break, so that the interior can be obtained, 
has been often cited as an instance of high instinct, 
and of the fact that animals will perform an 
action with a foreknowledge or memory of the 
result which is to be effected. Reptiles are also 
sometimes seized, particularly frogs in the very 
young, or in the tadpole state. We once saw 
this bird seize and carry off an adder; it exhi- 
bited great wariness of approach, but at last used 
a favourable opportunity, and seized the reptile 
behind the head, and immediately flew off, it 
passed in flight within a few yards, and we could 
distinctly see the manner in which it was held. 
The Carrion Crow is a more woodland bird 
than the preceding. It lives in pairs, or continues 
during the barren part of the season in small 
troops, the amount of the last brood. The nest, 
strongly framed with sticks, and warmly lined 
with wool and hair, is almost always placed on a 
tree, and at a considerable distance from the 
ground. At times in a wild sub-alpine sheep dis- 
trict, where the ravines and green sides of the 
mountain valleys are dotted with a few natural, 
rugged thorn and mountain ash trees, we have 
seen the nest not more than eight or ten feet high ; 
but in woods and hedge rows, the tallest and 
often the barest tree is selected. 
Though distributed generally in Britain, it 
may be called an inland bird ; for in those districts 
where our next species, the Gray-backed, or 
Hooded Crow is abundant, its place on the coast 
