[1] The "Consensus ecclesiarum Helveticarum reformatarum" was a
document drawn up in 1675 and imposed in 1722--as a test of strict
Protestant orthodoxy as to the doctrine of grace--by Bern on its
subjects in Lausanne and Vaux.
CROW (Dutch, _kraai_, Ger. _Krahe_, Fr. _corbeau_, Lat. _corvus_), a
name most commonly applied in Britain to the bird properly called a rook
(_Corvus frugilegus_), but perhaps originally peculiar to its congener,
nowadays usually distinguished as the black or carrion-crow (_C.
corone_). By ornithologists it is also used in a far wider sense, as
under the title crows, or _Corvidae_, is included a vast number of birds
from almost all parts of the world, and this family is probably the most
highly developed of the whole class _Aves_. Leaving out of account the
best known of these, as the raven, rook, daw, pie and jay, with their
immediate allies, our attention will here be confined to the crows in
general; and then the species of the family to which the appellation is
more strictly applicable may be briefly considered. All authorities
admit that the family is very extensive, and is capable of being parted
into several groups, but scarcely any two agree. Especially must reserve
be exercised as regards the group _Streperinae_, or piping crows,
belonging to the Australian Region, and referred by some writers to the
shrikes (_Laniidae_): and the jays too have been erected into a distinct
family (_Garrulidae_), though it seems hardly possible to separate them
even as a subfamily from the pies (_Pica_ and its neighbours), which
lead almost insensibly to the typical crows (_Corvinae_). Dismissing
these subjects for the present, it will perhaps be most convenient to
treat of the two groups which are represented by the genera
_Pyrrhocorax_ or choughs, and _Corvus_ or true crows in the most limited
sense.
_Pyrrhocorax_ comprehends at least two very good species, which have
been needlessly divided generically. The best known of them is the
Cornish chough (_P. graculus_), formerly a denizen of the precipitous
cliffs of the south coast of England, of Wales, of the west and north
coasts of Ireland, and some of the Hebrides, but now greatly reduced in
numbers, and only found in such places as are most free from the
intrusion of man or of daws (_Corvus monedula_), which last seem to be
gradually dispossessing it of its sea-girt strongholds, and its present
scarcity is probably in the main due to its persecution by its kindred.
In Britain, indeed, it would appear to be only one of the survivors of a
more ancient fauna, for in other countries where it is found it has been
driven inland, and inhabits the higher mountains of Europe and North
Africa. In the Himalayas a larger form occurs, which has been
specifically distinguished (_P. himalayanus_), but whether justifiably
so may be doubted. The general colour is a glossy black, and it has the
bill and legs bright red. The remaining species (_P. alpinus_) is
altogether a mountaineer, and does not affect a sea-shore life.
Otherwise it frequents much the same kind of localities, but it does not
occur in Britain. The alpine chough is somewhat smaller than its
congener, and is easily distinguished by its shorter and bright yellow
bill. Remains of both have been found in French caverns the deposits in
which were formed during the "Reindeer Age." Commonly placed by
systematists next to _Pyrrhocorax_ is the Australian genus _Corcorax_,
represented by a single species (_C. melanorhamphus_), but this
assignment of the bird, which is chiefly a frequenter of woodlands,
cannot be admitted without hesitation.
Coming now to what may be literally considered crows, our attention is
mainly directed to the black or carrion-crow (_Corvus corone_) and the
grey, hooded or Royston crow (_C. cornix_). Both these inhabit Europe,
but their range and the time of their appearance are very different. The
former is, speaking generally, a summer visitant to the south-western
part of Europe, and the latter occupies the north-eastern portion--an
irregular line drawn diagonally from about the Firth of Clyde to the
head of the Adriatic roughly marking their respective distribution. But
both are essentially migrants, and hence it follows that when the black
crow, as summer comes to an end, retires southward, the grey crow moves
downward, and in many districts replaces it during winter. Further than
this, it has been incontestably proved that along or near the boundary
where these two birds march they not infrequently interbreed, and it is
believed that the hybrids, which sometimes wholly resemble one or other
of the parents and at other times assume an intermediate plumage, pair
indiscriminately among themselves or with the pure stock. Hence it has
seemed to many ornithologists who have studied the subject, that these
two birds, so long unhesitatingly regarded as distinct species, are only
local races of one and the same dimorphic species. No structural
difference--or indeed any difference except that of range (already
spoken of) and colour--can be detected, and the problem they offer is
one of which the solution is exceedingly interesting if not important to
zoologists in general.[1] Almost omnivorous in their diet, there is
little edible that comes amiss to them, and, except in South America,
they are mostly omnipresent. The fish-crow of North America (_C.
ossifragus_) demands a few words, since it betrays a taste for maritime
habits beyond that of other species, but the crows of Europe are not
averse on occasion to prey cast up by the waters. The house-crow of
India (_C. splendens_) is not very nearly allied to its European
namesakes, from which it can be readily distinguished by its smaller
size and the lustrous tints of its darkest feathers; while its
confidence in the human race has been so long encouraged by its
intercourse with an unarmed and inoffensive population that it becomes a
plague to the European abiding or travelling where it is abundant.
Hardly a station or camp in British India is free from a crowd of
feathered followers of this species, ready to dispute with the kites and
the cooks the very meat at the fire. (A. N.)