The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 | Page 9

December,
and I think I may State with certainty that the Crows do not breed at
Ratnagiri during the months of heaviest rainfall, viz. July, August, and
September. As their breeding in November and December appears to be
exceptional, I subjoin a record of the few nests I examined.
"Nov. 22, 1878. Ratnagiri: One nest with 3 young birds. " " 1 fresh egg.
"Nov. 23, 1878. Ratnagiri: One nest with 1 fresh egg. " " 1 fresh egg.
"Dec. 4, 1878. Saugmeshwar.--One nest with 3 eggs hard-set; another
nest probably containing young birds, but the Crows pecked so
viciously at the man who was climbing the tree, that he got frightened
and came down again without reaching the nest. Crows with sticks and

feathers in their mouths are flying about all day.
"Dec. 5, 1878. Aroli.--Found a nest with a Crow sitting in it; no one to
climb the tree."
Mr. Benjamin Aitken has favoured me with the following interesting
note:--"I send you an account of a nest of the Common Crow, found in
October, 1874, in the town of Madras. My attention was first directed
to the remarkable pair of Crows to which the nest belonged, in the end
of July, when they were determinedly and industriously attempting to
fix a nest on the top ledge of a pillar in the verandah of the 'Madras
Mail' office. The ledge was so narrow that one would have thought the
Sparrow alone of all known birds would have selected it for a site; and
even the Sparrow only under the condition of a writing or toilet-table
being underneath to catch the lime, sticks, straws, rags, feathers, and
other innumerable materials that commonly strew the ground below a
Sparrow's nest. I was told that the Crows had been at their task for two
months before I saw them, and I then watched them till nearly the end
of October. The celebrated spider that taught King Bruce a lesson in
patience was eager and fitful compared with this pair of Crows. I kept
no account of the number of times their structure was blown down,
only to be immediately begun again; but as there was a good deal of
rain and wind at that season, in addition to the regular sea-breeze, it
was a common thing for the sticks to be cleared off day after day. But
perseverance will often achieve seeming impossibilities, and, moreover,
the Crows worked more indefatigably as the season went on, and used
to run up their nest with great rapidity (no doubt, also, they improved
by their practice); so that several times the structure was completed, or
nearly completed, before being swept to the ground, though how it
remained in its place for a moment seems a mystery; and twice I saw a
broken egg among the scattered _débris_. At length, about the middle
of September, the Crows determined to try the pillar at the other end of
the verandah. By this time, of course, all the Crows in Madras had long
brought up their broods and sent them adrift; and what they thought to
see an eccentric pair of their own species forsaking society, and
building in September, may be imagined. The new site selected differed
in no respect from the old one, and was no less exposed to the wind;
but the birds had grown expert at building 'castles in the air,' and now
met with fewer mishaps. In the first week of October the hen bird was

sitting regularly, so on the 8th of the month I sent a man up by a ladder,
and he held up four eggs for me to look at. It fairly seemed after this
that patience was to have its reward, but on the night of the 20th there
came a storm of wind and rain, and when I went to the office in the
morning, the nest was lying on the ground, with two young Crows in it,
with the feathers just beginning to appear. The other two, I suppose,
had fallen over into the street. And thus ended one of the most
persevering attempts on record to overcome a difficulty insurmountable
from the first. The old birds thought it time now to stop operations, and
frequented the office no more.
"I am told by a gentleman in the 'Mail' office that the Crows have built
in that verandah regularly for five or six years past, but nobody seems
to have watched the nests. I am, therefore, hopeful that the attempt will
be repeated this year, in which case I will keep a diary of all that takes
place."
He writes subsequently:--"I sent you a long story in my last batch of
notes about two eccentric Crows that succeeded in building a nest upon
the narrow ledge of a