HOODED CROW.
This species, the Corvus cornix of Linnæus and ornithologists generally, is only known as a winter visitor to certain parts of England, but is a common resident in Scotland and Ireland. From October to March the Hooded, Gray, or Royston Crow, is a very familiar object on the low-lying coasts of East Anglia. Its migrations to this district from the Continent are extremely interesting. All day long the birds may be seen coming in from over the sea in flocks and parties, crossing from continental Europe along a due west course. Sometimes great flights of this Crow pour across the North Sea—columns of migrating birds estimated to be forty or more miles in breadth, and travelling at the enormous speed of more than a hundred miles per hour! All the winter through Hooded Crows frequent the salt-marshes or the grain fields close to the sea. The food of the Hooded Crow is not known to differ from that of allied species, the bird being practically omnivorous. There are few instances known of this Crow breeding in England, but elsewhere in the British Islands it nests freely. In many Scottish and Irish districts it makes its nest on a sea-cliff. This resembles that of the Raven or the Jackdaw, being made of sticks, twigs, turf, and stalks, lined with moss, wool, and other soft materials. Five eggs are usually laid, green of various shades in ground colour, spotted and blotched with olive-brown and gray. The note of the Hooded Crow is a hoarse kra, modulated in various ways.