BIRDS OF ICELAND 23 



The pied variety of the Raven, which seems formerly 

 to have been not so very uncommon in Iceland, but 

 commoner still in the Faeroes, v^as named by Vieillot 

 Corvus leucophceus, under the impression that it was a 

 distinct species, instead of an instance of that albinism 

 to which all black-coloured birds seem specially liable. 

 I have never met with one, but Mr. J. G. Millais 

 informs me that he saw one near Myvatn in 1889. 



Corvus corone, Linn. Carrion Crow. 



Native name : ' Faereyja-hrafn ' (so Herra Grondal says 

 — Skyrsla, p. 35 — but I should have imagined 

 this name more applicable to C. frugilegus, q.v.). 



Grondal states that one was shot in Iceland on 

 January 16, 1881, but does not give the locality. The 

 present species is quite a southern bird in range, very 

 rare even in south Scandinavia. The young birds are 

 not always easy to tell from young Rooks, as the 

 latter have the usual Corvine nasal bristles until 

 maturity, which might lead to confusion between the 

 two species. 



At all events, the visits of the Carrion Crow to 

 Iceland are likely to be extremely infrequent ; yet it 

 may be well to mention that C. corone can be dis- 

 tinguished from C. frugilegiis at all ages by its more 

 massive and raven-like bill, and by the purple (not 

 blue) sheen on the body, passing into green on the 

 head ; and from C. comix by the absence of any shade 

 of grey from the plumage. 



