Mr. A. R. Wallace on certain species of Corvus. 101 



possess, the feathers are, as Schlegel describes it, " tres-clair 

 semees/^ The bill, in the male, is entirely black; in the female 

 and young bii'ds, reddish white, with a black tip. The feet, in 

 both sexes, are black. 



The true Corvus senex is a very different bird. The bill and 

 feet are yellowish white in both sexes, and a large space round 

 the eye quite bare and of a white colour. The bill resembles 

 in form that of C. ossifragus, figured by Schlegel, but is more 

 elongated, and the upper mandible extends a quarter of an inch 

 beyond the lower one; the base of the lower mandible is wider 

 than in the much longer bill of C.fusciccqnUus. The hairy plumes 

 which cover the nostrils spread upwards, so as to rise and almost 

 meet above the culraen at more than half an inch from its base, 

 whereas in most other species of Corvus (and in C. fuscicapillus 

 in particular) they are depressed over the nostrils only, leaving 

 the culmen, except at its base, perfectly free. But the most 

 characteristic feature of C senex is its long graduated tail, which 

 differs from that of every other Crow : Lesson gives it as from nine 

 to ten inches in length, which exactly agrees with my specimens. 

 In the colour of C. senex there is much individual variation, and 

 though most frequently the head is of a dull dirty white, and the 

 rest of the body dusky, yet I have one specimen in which the 

 wings and tail show purple glosses, and I should not be surprised 

 if others had the full corvine hues. 



In the following comparative dimensions of the two birds, it 



will be seen that those of Schlegel's specimens, allowing for the 



French inches (p^th more than English), exactly agree with my 



own. 



Bill, from 

 Total base of Heijilit 



lengthc Wings. Tail. culraen. of do. 



C. sejiex, Less. . . .23 in. 13 in. 9-10 in. 2^ in. 1 in. 



C. fuscicapillus . . 21-23 13-13^ 7 2^^^ ]i 



[C. senex, ^ch\ege\) 20 12^^^ 6i 2f 1 



The synonyms and references to C. fuscicapillus will therefore 

 stand thus : — 



Corvus fuscicapillus. 



Corvus orru, G. R. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 180. 



