The Carrion Crow — Corvus Corone, Linnæus
With every man’s hand against it, the Carrion Crow, which as a scavenger might well be one of our most useful birds, leads a harassed existence. Singly or in pairs it wanders about the country, feeding on anything that comes in its way. Carrion is its chief delight, but in default of that it turns its attention to weak and sickly birds, mice, rats, etc., and, as is the case with other members of the Crow family, it does quite as much good by destroying vermin as it does harm by destroying eggs and young birds.
The nest is generally placed on the top of some high tree or on the ledge of a cliff. It is made of sticks with an inner foundation of mud and warmly lined with wool, bents, rabbit fleck, and hair. The eggs, three to five in number, are very variable in markings, but except in size resemble those of the Raven. For a short time after the young are fledged they wander about in family parties, but they soon separate, and after August more than a pair are seldom seen together, a fact which will help to distinguish it at a distance from the Rook, who is nearly always gregarious. In general appearance this bird is very like the Rook, but it may be distinguished by the following characters. The bill is much stouter and broader and not so long and slender; its colour is black with a greenish gloss and not of a purplish blue, and the feathers have white bases, while those of the Rook are grey; the bristles and feathers at the base of the bill are never worn away as is always the case with Rooks after their second moult. Length 19·5 in.; wing 13 in. In this country it is generally distributed where not too strongly persecuted, becoming commoner in Scotland; but in Ireland it is very rare.