'The carrion crow often wages war with the lesser spe cies of hawks; but it is especially courageous in the breed ing season; nor will it suffer the kite, buzzard,or raven, to approach its nest with The young do not finally break off connection with the parents till the com mencement of a new brood. As they naturally attack small game, when wounded, or exhausted, they have, in some countries, been bred for falconry, as in Turkey, where gentry of inferior quality paint them of different colours, carry them on their right hand, and call them back by the frequent repetition of the syllable hcob. Al though their flight is neither easy nor rapid, they gene rally mount to a very great height, and indulge much in a whirling motion. Their croaking in the morning is said to indicate fine weather. As they are exceedingly cunning, have an acute scent, and commonly fly in large flocks, it is difficult to get near them, and still more so to decoy them into snares. Some of them, however, are caught by imitating the screech of the owl, and placing limed twigs on the high branches of a tree ; or they are drawn within gun-shot by means of an eagle-owl, or such other nocturnal bird, raised on perches, in an open spot. They are destroyed, too, by throwing to them garden beans, in which rusty needles are concealed. 'They are likewise caught by cones of paper, baited with raw flesh. As the crow introduces his head to devour the bait, which is near the bottom, the paper, being besmeared with bird-lime, sticks to the feathers of the neck, and he remains hooded ; unable to rid his eyes of the bandage, he rises almost perpendicularly in the air, the better to avoid striking against any thing, until, quite exhausted, he sinks down, always near the spot from which he mount ed. These, and other modes of ensnaring crows, arc chiefly practised in the winter season, when the ground is covered with snow, or hound up in frost ; for then they more readily approach human habitations, and seek to pick up some subsistence from the dung of animals that have passed along the highways. But many of them are killed, at all seasons, in various parts of the Continent, by strewing over the grounds which they frequent, pel lets of minced meat, mixed with the powder of Nux vomica.
Like the raven and other congenerous birds, the car rion crow may be domesticated, anti taught to articulate several words. It has been also observed to manifest the same disposition to hoard provisions and glittering trin kets.
C. cornix, Lin. &c. Hooded, Royston, or Grey Crow ; in provincial English, Duncrow, Scare-crow, and Bunt ing-crow; Hoody of the Scots. Ash-coloured ; head, throat, wings, and tail, black. Length, twenty-one inches ; spread of wing, twenty-three ; weight, about twenty-two ounces.
Like the rook, this bird associates in numerous flocks, and is, perhaps, still more familiar with the haunts of man, perferring, especially in winter, the vicinity of our farms and hamlets, and picking up its food in the kennels and dunghills. Like the rooks, also, in several countries it changes its abode twice a-year, appearing in flocks in the middle or at the end of autumn, and departing, in a north " erly direction, about the beginning of spring. It visits the south of England in October, or the beginning of win ter, arriving and departing with the woodcock, and retir ing north to breed, in the beginning of April. In the northern parts of the island, it is more frequent than in the south ; and in the Orkneys, Hebrides, and Shetland islands, it is the only genuine crow, the rook •and carrion being there unknown. In these districts, and in sonic
parts of Scotland and Ireland, it is resident throughout the year. Where opportunities offer, it breeds in the pines and other large tress, in default of which it nestles in the cavities of rocks. The female, which is rather smaller than the male, and of less lively hues, usually lays four, five, or six eggs, of a greenish-blue, marked with many spots of blackish-brown. It pairs during the whole of the breeding season; and both parents are much attached to their offspiling. They are remarked for their double cry, of w Inch one is hollow and well known, and the other s::t ill and somewhat resembling the crowing of a cock. When other food is wanting, they will eat cranberries and other mountain fruits ; in open fertile countries, they live much on grain, worms, and carrion ; but they often resort to the sea-shores, and prey on the various animal matters thrown up by the tide. Frisch observes, that they are expert at picking fish-bones, and that, when water is discharged from ponds, they quickly perceive the fish which are left in them, and lose no time in darting on them. They not only attack the eyes of lambs and dis eased sheep, but of horses that have got entangled in bogs. In the Faroe Isles, where they abound, they are particular ly mischievous, picking the seed from the fields, digging up the newly planted potatoes, destroying the barley be fore it is ripe, and drying off goslings and ducklings, or the fish which is hung up to dry, to their young. In some parts of these islands, they assemble to about the num ber of two hundred in one place, and at one time, as if by concert. A few of the congregation sit with drooping heads, others seem as grave as judges, and others, again, are very bustling and noisy. The meeting breaks up in the course of an hour; and it is not uncommon to find one or two dead on the spot. These, according to the insinua tion of Landt, are either criminals punished for their of fences. or invalids that have died of some disorder. Low observes, that, in the Orkneys, they meet together in spring, as if to deliberate on the important concerns of summer, and, after flying about in this collected state for eight or ten days, separate into pairs, and betake them selves to the mountains.
C. frugilegus, Lin. &c. Rook, or Rook Crow. Black, front ash coloured ; tail somewhat rounded. According to Mr. Pennant, the weight and the length nearly coin cide with those of the carrion crow ; but the extent of wing exhibited by the rook is greater by two inches and a half. These congeners, in fact, pretty nearly resemble each other; but the plumage of the rook is rather more glossy, and its tail-feathers somewhat broad and rounded ; its bill is more straight and slender, and has its base encircled by a naked white skin, which is scaly, and sometimes scabby, and takes place of those black projecting feathers, or bristles, which, in the other species of crow, extend as far as the opening of the nostrils. The belly, too, is not so thick or strong as in the crow, and has a rasped-like ap pearance. But sonic of these peculiarities of the rook ob viously result from its mode of life; for as grain, roots, worms, and insects, form its proper food, and as in search of these it scratches deep in the ground with its hill, the latter becomes rough, and the feathers at the base are worn off by continual rubbing, or at least only a few strag gling ones are left.