The Hiflory of ANIMALS. 387 
This fpecies is very common with us; it builds in high trees, and lays four or five 
eggs. It feeds like the raven on carcaflfes, and fmells them from a very confiderabie 
didance. It may be kept tame in the manner of the raven, and will learn to imitate 
the human voice : the knowledge of this is as old as Pliny, who mentions one famous 
for it in his time. Moft of the writers on birds have defcribed it. Ray, Willughby, 
and others call it Cornix. 
Corvus capite, gula, alts, caudaque nigris, irunco 
cinerafcente . 
The Corvus, with the body grey, and the head, 
throat, wings, and tail black . 
t. 
This fpecies is fomewhat larger than the common rook: the head is final!, and is 
fomewhat flatted on the crown ; the eyes are large, and their iris is of a hazel brown, 
with fome admixture of grey : the beak is large, ftrong, and fmooth ; it is of a (Lining 
glofly black throughout, except at the top, where it is white. 
The head and throat, down to the bread, are of a deep and beautiful black; the 
wings alfo are black, of a glofly hue, and with fomewhat of a bluifli caff : the bread 
and belly, and alfo the back, and the upper fide of the neck, are grey; but the fcapi 
of the feathers, even on thefe parts, are black, and the back is of a fomewhat duf- 
kier or deeper grey than the belly. 
The wings are long and large; the long feathers in them are twenty to each; of 
thefe the firft is the fhorted, and the third and fourth are the longed : the tail confifts 
of twelve large feathers; the two middle ones of thefe are the longed, and the others 
become gradually fhorter to the edges, but the diminution in length is but incon- 
fiderable. 
The legs are long, robud, and black; the toes are long and drong, and the hin¬ 
der one is much larger than any of the others: the outer of the three fore-toes is 
equal in length to the middle one, and is connected to the middle one near it’s bafe : 
the nodrils are round, and are covered with bridles. 
This fpecies is lefs frequent with us than the others, but it breeds annually in fome 
parts of the kingdom in great abundance : it is fond of the tops of hills and thick 
woods, but in the hard weather, in winter, it comes down into the low grounds. 
They are very common on the high downs in Suflex, and on Newmarket-heath, and 
particularly fo about the town of Roydon, from which they have obtained their Eng- 
lifh name : mod of the writers on birds have defcribed the fpecies. Aldrovand calls it 
Cornix cinerea frugilega ; Willughby and Ray continue the fame name to it; and fome 
call it Amply Cornix cinerea. It is a very coarfe feeder; it eats carrion ahd infe&s of 
all kinds, and, like the rook, will alfo feed on fruits; it often frequents the fea~ 
Ihores, and will there prey upon fuch fhell-fifh as it can get open. 
Corvus fronte nigra, occipite incano, corpore nigro fufco 
alis caudaque nigris . 
'The Corvus, with a black and grey head, a 
black body, and black wings and tail . 
This is one of the fmalled of the crow-kind, but it is a very ered and well-fhaped 
bird: the head is large, and flatted on the crown; the eyes are large, and have a 
piercing afped ; their iris is whitifh, and the pupil large and black : the ears are large 
alfo, and more confpicuous than in mod of the others: the beak is large, long, and 
robud; it is of a blackifh colour, and the bafe is covered half-way down, with plu¬ 
mules bent forwards; among thefe are fituated the nodrils, which are round, and 
dand high : the front of the head is black, but the hinder part is grey, and that colour 
extends itfelf down to the middle of the neck : the bread and belly are greyifh ; the 
