8 CORVIDiE. 



tion goes, to be found amongst those of the Eaven, are found 

 amongst the eggs of the present species, and vice versa ; and for a 

 description of these it is only necessary to refer to the account of 

 the former species ; but I may notice that amongst the eggs of 

 C. macrorliynclius I have not yet noticed any so boldly blotched as is 

 occasionally the case with some of the eggs of the Raven, which 

 remind one not a little, so far as the character of the markings go, of 

 eggs of (Edicnemus crepitans and Esacus recurvirostris. Like those 

 of the Raven the eggs exhibit little gloss, though here and there a 

 fairly glossy egg is met with. Eggs from various parts of the 

 Himalayas, of the plains of Upper India, of the hills and plains of 

 Southern India, do not differ in any respect. Inter se the eggs 

 from each locality differ surprisingly in size, in tone of colour, and 

 in character of markings ; but when you compare a dozen or twenty 

 from each locality, you find that these differences are purely indi- 

 vidual and in no degree referable to locality. 



There are just as big eggs and just as small ones from Simla and 

 Kotegurh, from Cashmere, from Etawah, Bareilly, Euttehgui'h, 

 from Kotagherry, and Conoor : all that one can possibly say is that 

 perhaps the Plains birds do on the average lay a shade larger eggs 

 than the Himalayan or Nilghiri ones. 



Taking the eggs as a whole, I think that in size and shape they 

 are about intermediate between the eggs of the European Carrion- 

 Crow and Rook. But they vary, as I said, astonishingly in size, 

 from 1*5 to 1"95 in length, and in breadth from 1"12 to 1-22, and 

 I have one perfectly spherical egg, a deformity of course, which 

 measures 1*25 by 1*2. 



The average of thirty Himalayan eggs is 1-73 by 1'18, of twenty 

 Plains eggs 1-74 by 1*2, and of fifteen Nilghiri eggs 1-7 by 1-18. 

 1 would venture to predict that with fifty of each, there would not 

 be a hundredth of an inch between their averages. 



7. Corvus splendens, Vieill. The Indian ITouse-Croiv. 



Corvus splendens, Vieill. Jcrd. B. Ind. ii, p. 298. 



Corvus impudicus, Ilodys., Hume, Rowjh Draft N. S^- E. no. 6G3. 



Throughout India and Upper Burma the Common Crow resides 

 and breeds, not ascending the hills either in Southern or Northern 

 India to any great ele-\'ation, but breeding up to 4000 feet in the 

 Himalayas. 



The breeding-season par excellence is June and July, but occa- 

 sional nests will be found earlier even in Upper India, and in 

 Southern and Eastern India a great number lay in May. The 

 nests are commonly placed in trees without much regard to size or 

 kind, though densely foliaged ones are preferred, and I have just 

 as often found several in the same ti'ee as single ones. At times 

 they will build in nooks of ruins or large deserted buildiugs, where 

 these are in well inhabited localities, but out of many thousands I 

 have only seen three or four nests in sucli abnormal positions. 



The nest is placed in some fork, and is usually a }'agged stick 



