520 Messrs. E. L. & E. L. C. Layard on the 



that its eggs are white or bluish. It is much eaten by the 

 French colonists, who call it '' Merle noir " and " Pigeon 

 noir."*^ Native name " Tio/^ but not in the Bourail dialect. 



Total length 8", wing 4", tail 3", tarse 11'". Iris deep red- 

 orange ; bill black ; feet and legs purple-black, with whitish 

 soles. M. Marie includes in his list A. striatus (Gmel.), A. 

 nigroviridis (Less.),^. atronit ens, Gr ay, A. vi)'idigriseus,Gra.y, 

 and A. caledunicus, Bp., marking the two latter with an 

 asterisk. What was his A. viridiffriseus ? 



39. Physocorax moneduloides, Less. 



This little Crow is not uncommon in the forest-regions, 

 though it is very rare near Noumea, one only having been 

 seen by us in that neighbourhood during the whole period of 

 our residence there ; at Moindou we found it common. It 

 is called " Wa-wa " by the natives, from its not unmusical 

 call, which is quite unlike that of the European Crow, being 

 much softer. They feed largely on the ripe candle-nut; and the 

 young Boyers affirm that they carry the nuts to a considerable 

 altitude, and then drop them on a stone or hard root to crack 

 them. They pointed out several places at a little distance 

 from trees bearing fruit, at which the ground was covered 

 with the empty shells, among which there was always a stone 

 or knotty root projecting from the soil. Candle-nuts, how- 

 ever, are not their only food. Our friend M. Saves informed 

 us that he, in common with others, eat them habitually until 

 one day a native asked him how it happened that they, white 

 people, could eat what the natives repudiated with disgust. 

 " But why ?," was the response; and the native then informed 

 him that the Crows instead eat them ! That was, after they 

 were dead ; for it was the native custom to place their dead in 

 trees on platforms, and " the Wa-wa kai kai (eat) them.^^ 

 Our friend has given up eating Crows for '^gibier.^^ 



We have seen them eating locusts and insects of all sorts, 

 the seeds and flowers of the ErytJirina and various other trees ; 

 and the Messieurs Boyer accuse them of robbing the eggs 

 from the outlaying fowls without stint, and even killing 

 young chickens and turkeys. During locust-time they were 

 the last birds (with the Philemon lessoni) to go to roost ; and 



