THE INDIAN CORBY 



I HAVE never been able to discover why the 

 great black crow {Corvus macrorhynchus), so 

 common in India, is called the jungle-crow. It 

 is, indeed, true that the corby is found in the 

 jungle, but it is found everywhere else in most parts of 

 India, and is certainly abundant in villages and towns, 

 being in some places quite as much a house bird as its 

 smaller cousin, the grey-necked crow. 



Considering the character of the larger species and 

 its extensive distribution, one hears remarkably little 

 about it. The explanation is, of course, that the house- 

 crow absorbs all the attention that man has to bestow 

 upon the sable-plumaged tribe. The prevailing opinion 

 seems to be that the black crow is merely a mild edition, 

 a feeble imitation of, a scoundrel of lesser calibre than, 

 its smaller cousin, Corvus splendens, and, therefore, every- 

 thing that applies to the house-crow applies in a lesser 

 degree to the big-billed bird. This is, I submit, a mis- 

 taken view, the result of imperfect observation. Corvus 

 macrorhynchus has an individuality of his own, and we 

 do him scant justice in dismissing him with a short 

 paragraph at the foot of a lengthy description of Corvus 

 splendens. 



In saying this, I feel that I am speaking as one having 

 235 



