Mashonaland Birds. 223 



where they often do a good deal of damage to the farmers^ 

 crops. Unlike the Eui'opeau Rooks, they do not seera to be 

 gregarious in their nesting-habits, although they will roost 

 together in large numbers. Their food consists largely of 

 insects, but they are also frugivorous, and when hard 

 pressed I have even seen them eat carrion. Their flight is 

 very much more laboured and cumbrous than that of 

 tlie Crow. At times they fly in a very curious fashion, 

 holding the wings well below the horizontal and fluttering 

 them sharply, after the manner of the Bishop-birds. The 

 eggs, which are four in number, are very variable, the 

 ground-colour being either creamy white, dull purplish, or 

 deep salmon-pink, with highly variable spots and blotches of 

 reddish brown ; the shape is also varied, the sides being 

 sometimes distinctly compressed, with the narrow end very 

 blunt, or the smaller end may be very rapidly narrowed 

 from about the middle to quite a sharp point. Measurements 

 (in millimetres) : 42*5 X 28, 43 & 44 x 30. 



2. CoRVus scAPULATUs. (White-bcllied Crow.) 



This fine Crow is abundant throughout the country, and 

 always to be found in some numbers about the towns, where 

 it shares with the Vultures the dead oxen and donkeys. 

 But it does not disdain meaner fare, and may be seen 

 searching cattle-droppings for coprophilous beetles or per- 

 forming the ofiice of tick-pecker to the donkeys. In Natal 

 I have known these Crows to kill young lambs, or even 

 sickly sheep, usually commencing by pecking out the eyes. 

 Although their flight is somewhat heavy, they will often 

 soar to a considerable height, and are capable of performing 

 really graceful evolutions. They are very fond of bullying 

 the weaker Hawks, such as Kestrels and Harriers, and I 

 have even seen a single one pursuing a Bateleur Eagle. 



3. CoRvuLTUR ALBicoLLis. (Wliitc-nccked Raven.) 

 This is considerably scarcer than the preceding species, 



and I have rarely seen it in the immediate vicinity of 

 Salisbury. It is, however, to be met with sparingly in most 

 parts of the country, generally in pairs. 



K 2 



