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kind cover their eggs, Mr. Wolley says, ‘‘ About ten days ago Henry Walter and myself amused ourselves

by climbing up to Jackdaws’ nests placed in holes in the trees about Bearwood, on the borders of Windsor

Forest. In the course of three days we must have examined several scores of nests. On the first day none

of the eggs were covered ; but on the second and third days we found that several of the nests that had been
visited before, now had their eggs either partially covered with loose pieces of wool, or the eggs in some
cases were nearly buried in the woolly lining of the nest, and this whether the bird had just flown from the
nest or not.” (Hewitson’s Col. Ill. of Eggs of Brit. Birds, 3rd edit. vol. 1. pp. 2382, 233.)

The eggs are four or five in number, of a regular oval form, and of a pale greenish blue, covered, par-
ticularly at the larger end, with round, distinct spots of dark brown and pale purplish brown ; their length
varies from one inch and a third to one inch and a half, They are laid in May, and the young are able to
fly by the end of June.

Besides his love for the society of man, the popularity of the Jackdaw is enhanced by its graceful and
buoyant flight round and about church and other towers, its loquacious cackling, the readiness with which
it becomes domesticated, its powers of imitating the human voice, and its droll and comical ways; while in
the sheep-walk he is no less interesting for the inquisitive manner with which he probes the close-cropped
turf before the nose of the sheep, and perches on their backs with the utmost complacency.

There is but little difference in the colouring of the sexes when adult. The young have no trace of the
hoary hind head until after the first moult ; but as they increase in age the crown becomes of a steel-blue, the

hinder part of the head and neck hoary; and the irides during the first autumn are generally of a dark brown,

which ultimately gives place to pearly white. To describe the body-feathers as black would be incorrect ;

for, like those of the Rook and the Chough, they display a considerable diversity of colour as the rays of
light impinge upon the varions parts of the body.

As a feeder, the Jackdaw may be said to be omnivorous ; for he disdains not to eat carrion, insects, grubs,
worms, shelled mollusks, and crustaceans; to which are added grain, seeds, and fruits, eggs, and even
weakly birds.

As regards distribution, if the Jackdaw of Macedonia (Corvus collaris, Drumm.) be regarded as a mere
local variety, then the present bird ranges over central Europe (as far north as nearly to the 65th degree of
latitude), the islands of the Mediterranean, North Africa, Cashmere, and Amoorland.

The Corvus monedula and its near allies, the C. dauricus and C. neglectus, form a small section of the
family Corvide, to which the generic appellations of Lycos, Monedula, aud Coleus have been assigned by
various authors, with the present bird as the type: in a general work on ornithology I should have adopted
this view, and figured the bird as Lycos monedula ; but here I have thought it advisable to retain it under the
old name of Corvus.

A history of the Jackdaw would be incomplete without some reference to its capability of domestication,
and its thievish propensities ; both of which points are well illustrated in the following article from the pen of
Mr. John Denson, senior, which appeared in the sixth volume of ‘Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History.’

“Doubtless it is well known that the Jackdaw can be domesticated. He frequently is; and a playful,
merry, mischievous little fellow he becomes. One that came into my possession as soon as it was hatched,
I kept for more than twelve months. It soon became the favourite of the family, and when able to fly,
would follow me or any of the household into the garden or anywhere near the house. Many a time has
he perched on my shoulder and amused himself by preening the side of my head, and sometimes giving
me a nip on the ear; and then he would call out ‘Jack 1’ lustily, put his powdered head knowingly on
one side, and look in my face as if to see how I liked it. The garden was his general haunt ; there he
would amuse himself for hours looking for insects. Earwigs and spiders were his favourite food. I recol-
lect his leaving my shoulder and pouncing upon a large spider and its white bag of egos. The Jackdaws
from the tower of the village church frequently flew round in circles, and seemed by their calls to invite
him to join their society ; but Jack could not be persuaded to leave his abode. Still, although he made our
house and outbuildings his home, he was not against visiting his neighbours. Many a thimble, portion of
thread, a spoon in one or more instances, or anything that was portable, bas he purloined from the neigh-
bouring cottages, and concealed under the moss that grew on the thatch of the barn. Jack by this means
got a very ill uname, and if any little thing was missing he was sure to be accused. The ladder has been
raised, his hoard searched, and the lost goods returned. Jack was a very early riser, and would imitate the
human voice. After a while I lost sight of him, and heard some years afterwards that his thievish and
mischievous propensities had brought him to an untimely end.”

The figures in the accompanying Plate represent the two sexes of the natural size. The plant is the
common Ivy, Hedera Helix, Linn.