CORVID^. 



3. Corvus corone, Linn. Tlce Carrion-Grow. 



Corvus corone, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 295 ; Hume. Roiujh Draft 

 N.^-K no. G59* 



The only Indian eggs of the Carrion-Crow which I have seen, and 

 one of which, ^vit}l the parent bird, I owe to Mr. Broolvs, were taken 

 by the latter gentleman on the 30th May at Sonamerg, Cashmere. 



The eggs were broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one 

 end, and of the regular Corvine type — a pretty pale green ground, 

 blotched, smeared, streaked, spotted, and clouded, nowhere very 

 profusely but most densely about the large end, with a greenish or 

 olive-brown and pale sepia. The brown is a brighter and greener, 

 or duller and more olive, lighter or darker, in different eggs, and 

 even in different parts of the same egg. The shell is fine and 

 close, but has onl}^ a faint gloss. 



The eggs only varied from 1"67 to 1"68 in length, and from 1*14 

 to 1*18 in breadth. 



AVhether this bird breeds regularly or only as a straggler in 

 Cashmere we do not know ; it is always overlooked and passed by 

 as a " Common Crow." Future visitors to Cashmere should try 

 and clear up both the identity of the bird and all particulars about 

 its nidification. 



4. Corvus macrorhynchus, Wagler. 'The Jumjle-Crow. 



Corvus culminatus, Sykes, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 295. 



Corvus levaillaatii, Less., Hume, Rough Draft N. ^- E. uo. 600. 



The Jungle-Crow (under which head I include t C. culminatus, 

 Sykes, C. intermedius, Adams, G. aadamanensis, Tytler, and each 

 and all of the races that occur within our limits) breeds almost 

 everywhere in India, alike in the low country and in the hills both 

 of Southern and Northern India, to an elevation of fully 8000 

 feet. 



March to May is, I consider, the normal breeding-season ; in 

 the ])lains the majority lay in April, rarely later, and in the hiUs 

 in May ; but in the plains a few birds lay also in February. 



The nest is placed as a rule on good-sized trees and pretty near 

 their summits. In the plains mangos and tamarinds seem to be 

 preferred, but I have found the nests on many different kinds of 

 trees. The nest is large, circular, and composed of moderate-sized 

 twigs ; sometimes it is thick, massive, and compact ; sometimes 

 loose and straggling ; always with a considerable depression in the 

 centre, which is smoothly lined with large quantities of horsehair. 



* Mr. Hume, at one time separated the Indian Carrion-Crow from Corvus 

 corone under the name C. pKCiido-corone. In his ' Catalogue ' he re-unites thcni. 

 I quite agree -with him that the two birds arc inseparable. — Eu. 



t See ' Stray Feathers,' vol. ii. 1874, p. 243, and ' Lahore to Yarkaud,' 

 p. 85. 



