54 



NESTS A.\'D EGGS OE AUSEKAUAN BIRDS. 



ORDER- PASSERIFORMES: PERCHING BIRDS. 

 Sub=Order— Passeres. 



FAMILY— CORVID.E : CROWS. 

 Sub-family — Corvin,e : Crows Proper. 



44 — CoRVi's coRONOiDES, Vigois and Horsfield. 

 CROW. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit Mus , vol. iii., p. 20. 



Previous Descripliuns of E^gs. — Gould ; Birds of Australia (1S48), also 



Handbook, vol. i., p. 476 (1865) ; Kamsay : Ibis, p. 303 ti865) ; 



North: Ausin. Mus. Cat. p. 186, pi. 7, fig. 8 (18S9). 



Geographical Disfrifjtitio/i. — Whole of Austi-alia and Tasmania. 



Xe.st. — Similar in construction to that of the Raven ; generally placed 

 in a tree, but sometimes on a bush in interior where timber is scarce. 



Eygs. — Clutch, foiu' to five, occasionally six ; except for their smaller 

 and rounder size are hardly to be distinguished from those of the Raven. 

 Dimensions in inches of a clutch from Queensland, accompanied by neck 

 feathers of the bird; (1) 1-5 x 1-13, (2) 1-49 x M4, (3) 1-46 xM. 

 (4) 1-45 xM3. 



0/jservatiuns. — There still exists some uncertainty about identifj-ing or 

 separating our two species of Crows, or the Crow from the Raven. But if 

 the chief points, as fii'st mentioned by Dr. Ramsay as far back as 1865, 

 and afterwards described by Dr. Sharpe, be remembered, the difficulties of 

 identification vanish. The Raven (Corone au.<traJi<) is the larger bird, 

 has eyes wliite in the adult, and wears conspicuous long feathers on its 

 throat, and has the base of the feathers on the hind part of its neck and 

 back of a dushti-hrown or aooty colour; while the true Crow (Corvu-i 

 rnrnnoichs) has wliite ej-es likewise, but the base of the feathers is snow- 

 white. 



To attempt to identify the birds by the coloiw of their eyes, separating 

 them by the name of Hazel-eyed and White-eyed Crow, is likely to lead 



