BIRDS where it was probably resting after a long flight {Hastings, p. 66). Its nearest locality to Worcestershire is in some of the Welsh cliffs. [Alpine Chough. Pyrrhocorax alpinus, Koch. On the authority of a very careful observer, Mr. J. Hiam, who saw a bird of this species near his residence at Astwood Bank, Worces- tershire, I introduce it into the present list, though with great doubts as to it being any- thing more than an escaped bird. At the same time, as it was met with on four different occasions in Heligoland by Herr Gatke, there is no reason why truly wild birds of this species should not appear in Great Britain (see Saunders, p. 232).] 75. Jay. Garrulus glandarius (Linn.). The jay was a common resident in Wor- cestershire, and is still found in decreasing numbers wherever there are woods and coppices suitable to its habits. 76. Magpie. Pica rustica (Scopoli). In all the most highly cultivated parts of the county, as well as where game is preserved, this bird has sensibly decreased in numbers. A tame magpie which was kept some years ago by a woman having the care of a crossing on the Great Western Railway, three or four miles from Evesham, built a great domed nest in what is locally known as a washing pan, which stood at the door of her hut, and laid in it a full complement of eggs. These were taken out and replaced by other magpie's eggs, but the cheat was at once discovered by the bird, and every one of them was speedily broken by her. 77. Jackdaw. Corvus monedula, Linn. The daw is one of those birds which can bend to circumstance in the battle of life, and so holds its own. Accordingly it is a common resident. 78. Raven. Corvus corax, Linn, When Hastings wrote, in 1834, the raven had become a rare Worcestershire bird. How- ever, late in the ' forties,' it was still breeding at Stanford Court, the seat of the Winington family, as I was informed by the Rev. W. Rufford, Vicar of Sapey, in a communication from him in July, 1849. Lees says that in 1870, when he wrote, the raven might be occasionally seen passing over the Malvern district, and relates that many years before that date he saw a nest ith young just fledged at Sarn Hill, Bushley. If it ever appears now in the county it is as a casual wanderer from Wales. 79. Carrion-Crow. Corvus corone, Linn. We still have the carrion-crow, or as it is often called provincially the gor crow, and in some localities it is pretty common ; yet, taking the county through, its numbers have greatly diminished within the last four or five decades. 80. Grey or Hooded Crow. Corvus comix, Linn. The hooded crow is mentioned by Mr. Willis Bund as a resident, but no instance of its breeding in the county has come to my knowledge. It has not very infrequently occurred, but always, so far as I know, as a straggler, and bearing in mind the great number which annually pass Heligoland and reach our eastern coast, it does not seem im- probable that some of them may stray into our county. I have known the hooded crow frequent the sides of the Avon and feed on the mussels which became accessible when the water ran low by the action of the locks. It is also sometimes seen in our pastures accompanying the herds of cattle. Lees mentions one in- stance only of the occurrence of the hooded crow at Malvern. 81. Rook. Corvus frugilegus, Linn. There is no diminution in the number of our rookeries, nor yet in the number of the nests. It sometimes happens that a carrion-crow will visit a rookery to feed on the rooks' eggs. The crow will perch on the edge of a nest, and in spite of the attempt of the rooks to drive him off, will deliberately consume the eggs. The owner of the rookery, though fully aware that there is something wrong with the rooks, does not easily discover what is the matter ; the colour of the crow so nearly resembling that of the rooks as to render detection difl^cult. I have known a rookery almost destroyed by such a marauder, or perhaps by a pair of them. 82. Sky-Lark. Alauda arvensis, Linn. The sky-lark is, I am happy to say, a common and resident bird in our county, and we still have his music in our fields and meadows all through the summer. In the afternoon of December 28th, 1899, a bird flew past my brother, W. B. Tomes, and myself, near the Avon, in the parish of North Littleton, which from some resem- blance about the head and beak to a haw- finch attracted our attention. But the flight was decidedly that of a lark. It alighted in an adjacent field, and in the act of doing so exhibited some white in the middle of each 155
