Order PASSERES. 



Family CORVID^ . 

 Sub-family CORVINE. 

 O-exi'U.S OOIES'^TJ^, Linnceus. 



Corvus coronoides. 



HAZEL-EYED CKOW. 



Corvus coronoides, Yig. A- Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 2G1 (1826); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. III., p. 20 (1877). 



Adult male — General colour above and below black glossed with purple ; outer webs of the 

 primaries and of the external tail feathers sl/i/htly sliaded with bronzy- green ; bases of the feathers on 

 th", upper part'i snow white : bill and leijs black; "iris broivn" (Elsey, Morton). Total lenc/th .!<> inches, 

 iviny 1-i 7, tail 8 7, bill ii J, tarsus ,i'35. 



Adult fe.malk — Similar hi the male in plumaye, but sliyhtly smaller. 



Distribution. — Oueensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, Soutli Australia, Western and 

 North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South .Vustralia, Central Australia, Tasmania. 



^Ti^l^HE Hazel-eyed Crow is widely distributed over the greater portion of the Australian 

 J- continent and Tasmania, although it is by no means so plentiful as the Raven (Corone 

 australisj which is often mistaken for the present species. In New South Wales, it frequents 

 alike the mountain ranges near the coast, and the belts of timber bordering the rivers and 

 creeks inland, In some seasons it is only met with in the coastal districts, in isolated pairs, 

 but at all times it is more numerous in the autumn and winter. Generally it may be 

 observed in the neighbourhood of slaughter-houses or killing-yards, and not infrequently on 

 the low-lying lands near the mouths of tidal rivers, and on the sea-shore. As a rule, it is 

 exceedingly wary and difficult to shoot. 



The food of this species consists of insects of various kinds, principally locusts, crickets, 

 and beetles, the flesh of any slaughtered animal, young birds and eggs, small mammals and 

 reptiles, dead fish and crustaceans. About orchards it eats nearly every kind of cultivated 

 fruit, and during the autumn and winter feasts upon grain. Pastoralists, as a rule, regard all 

 members of the genera Corvus and Corone with disfavour; but the loss attributed to the depreda- 

 tions of the Crow during the lambing season is in reality caused almost wholly by its congener 

 the Raven, a far warier and much commoner species, with which it frequently consorts. 



The collection brought back from Central .Vustralia by the Horn Scientific E.xpedi- 

 tion, in 1894, and which I had the pleasure of examining, contained several specimens 

 of these birds. In his field notes," Mr. G. .\. Heartland writes as follows: — ".\ camp-fire 

 seems to possess an irresistible attraction for Corvus coronoides. No matter where the wanderer in 

 Central Australia may decide to boil his "billy," he is sure to have a visit from one or more 



• Report Horn Sci, Exp., Vol. ii., Zoo-1., p. 91 (1896). 



