COR 
bustle and assiduity, incessant struggle and 
contention, stratagem and violence. Cun- 
ning and oppression are in perpetual con- 
flict, art is often successfully substituted for 
strength, and more frequently power for 
right. It is a circumstance witiiin the re- 
collection of several persons at Newcastle, 
that a pair of rooks, wlio had been inter- 
rupted in various efforts to build in a neigh- 
bouriug rookery, at length actually esta- 
blished their nest on the weather-vane of 
the spire of the Exchange, and produced 
their young to perfection, notwithstanding 
all the persecutions of their enemies, all the 
clamorous admiration of the populace, and 
the movements which they experienced 
from every shifting breeze of wind. So te- 
nacious were they of this situation, that 
they returned to it for ten successive years. 
C. monedula, the jackdaw. These birds 
are about the size of a small pigeon, though 
not quite so thick. In England they are 
stationary, in France, Austria, and Den- 
mark, in difl’erent degrees, migratory. 
They rarely build their nests in trees, pre- 
ferring the ruins of human habitations, or 
of churches and towers, where their eggs 
aud young are more beyond the reach of 
depredating school-boys. They sometimes 
lay in rabbit holes. They are domesticated 
with great facility, and may be taught to 
utter a considerable number of words. 
They are, like the raven, much addicted to 
concealment aud pilfering, hiding not only 
their food, but a variety of toys and trin- 
kets, a circumstance w’hich has not unfre- 
quently brought suspicion and disgrace upon 
the most honest and faithful domestics. See 
Aves, Plate IV. fig. 5. 
C. glandarius, the jay. The jay weighs 
about seven ounces, and is about thirteen 
inches long. Its colours are beautifully ar- 
ranged, and it attracts by its appearance 
tliat favourable and delighted attention 
which is somewhat counteracted by its 
harsh and chattering sounds. It is regarded 
by the sportsman with no little aversion, as 
its vigilance is ever upon the alert, and on 
the first sight of an enemy it utters those 
sereaming sounds of alarm which warn all 
within its reach of danger, and defeat the 
hopes and aims of their adversary. Its nest 
is built of sticks, roots, and tender twig.s, 
in the woods, and the young continue with 
their parents till the following season, when 
they withdraw and form establishments of 
their own. Jays feed on almost all sorts of 
.seeds and fruits, on nuts and acorns, and 
occasionally on eggs and even chickens. 
COR 
They are sometimes kept in a cage, but al- 
most uniformly lose in this confinement all 
the beauty of their plumage. They will 
imitate with great ease and accuracy a va- 
riety of sounds, and articulate a consider- 
able number of words, and, by this acquired 
talent, have sometimes produced consider- 
able nrischief, setting on dogs to worry cat- 
tle, calling the dogs by their names, in imi- 
tation of the shepherd’s voice ; and they ap- 
pear greatly to enjoy the spectacle of con- 
fusion and distress which they thus pro- 
duce. The jay is not found in the south, be- 
yond Greece or Italy, and is unknown in 
Ireland. See Aves, Plate IV. fig. 6. 
C. pica, the magpie. This bird is ex- 
ti'cmely common in England, and is found 
in nrost countries between Sweden and 
Italy in Europe. In America it is i-are, and 
is a bird of passage. Though its colours 
consist only of black and white, yet these 
are attended witli such extraordinary bloom 
and radiance, that the plumage of one seen 
in a perfect state of nature will excite a 
very high sensation of beauty, and be con- 
sidered as scarcely exceeded by any other 
British bird. It may easily be brought up 
in a state of domestication, and will speak 
with great ease many phrases with all the 
readiness of the parrot, though not with his 
distinct and accurate enunciation. It feeds 
much like the crow on promiscuous sub- 
stances. It constructs its nest with pecu- 
liar dexterity, not only covering the bot- 
tom with materials of a soft and downy tex- 
ture, for the comfort of its young, but fix- 
ing the entrance at the sid&, and wattling, 
of appropriate substances, a complete roof 
for its habitation, which is tlrus rendered 
warm, dry, and secure. 
C. graculus, the red-legged crow, is com- 
mon on the coasts of Devonshire and Corn- 
wall ; ill Kent, Wales, and Scotland also, 
it is to be found. It is a turbulent, bold, 
and clamorous bird, builds every w’here in 
rocky situations, is voracious, and often 
seen snatching from its companions locusts 
or juniper berries, which constitute its fa- 
vourite food. It flies in circles, and resem- 
bles the jackdaw in some particulars of its 
manners, being equally prone to pilfer and 
hide. It is fond of glare, and has been 
known to snatch up burning sticks from 
the hearth, and place them in situations 
where, if unobserved, they must have pro- 
dueed destructive conflagrations. 
CORUNDUM, in mineralogy. Though 
corundum appears to have been known to 
Dr. Woodward, it may be said to have been 
