[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman"><p>A moment ago, I saw a dead carrion crow in somebody’s front garden.</p>
<p>Did you know? The Carrion Crow (<i>Corvus corone</i>) belongs to the family Corvidae in the avian order Passeriformes.</p></div>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Comic Sans MS"><p>Did you know? The Hooded Crow (<i>Corvus cornix</i>) was once classified as a subspecies of the Carrion Crow, but is now regarded as a species in its own right.</p></div>[/dohtml]

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<p>Did you know? The other members of the genus <i>Corvus</i> include the Jackdaw (<i>Corvus monedula</i>), Rook (<i>Corvus frugilegus</i>) and Raven (<i>Corvus corax</i>). ;)</p>
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[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Comic Sans MS"><p>Did you know? Among the other British members of the crow family not belonging to the genus <i>Corvus</i> are the Jay (<i>Garrulus glandarius</i>), Magpie (<i>Pica pica</i>) and Chough (<i>Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax</i>).</p></div>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<div style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman"><p>Did you know? Choughs can be seen on the RSPB nature reserve of South Stack Cliffs on the Welsh island of Anglesey. I’ve also seen hooded crows there.</p></div>[/dohtml]

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<p>Did you know? The word “chough” rhymes with “tough”. :P</p>
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[dohtml]I have just read about the hooded crow in the section on field and the chough in the section on sea & shore of the book Scotland’s Wildlife by Niall Benvie.
Did you know? Until 2002, the all-black carrion crow and grey-and-black hooded crow were treated as subspecies of the same species – but now, based on DNA evidence, they are recognized as separate species. As for the chough, once a relatively common coastal bird, the decline in the British population is due chiefly to the loss of traditionally managed coastal pasture as farming has become more intensive. :([/dohtml]

[dohtml]I have just read about species in the glossary at the end of Chapter&nbsp;4, “The nature and origin of life”, under the section LIVING THINGS in Volume&nbsp;1, “The world of nature”, of the Reader’s Digest Library of Modern Knowledge. Did you know? “Generally, a species comprises individuals able to breed only among themselves. … Organisms that multiply by asexual reproduction are classed in species on the basis of their structural and functional similarities and ancestry. Creatures with slight, consistent differences that are not important enough to separate them into species are classified as subspecies. If isolated from its relatives, a subspecies may evolve into a separate species.”[/dohtml]

[dohtml]Did you know? Another example of speciation is the St Kilda mouse, which I have just read about in the section on field of the book Scotland’s Wildlife by Niall Benvie. This species (<i>Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis</i>) occurs only on Hirta, the main island in the St Kilda archipelago, and nowhere else in the world. There is evidence suggesting that its ancestors sailed there from Norway with the Vikings.[/dohtml]