326 Mr. A. L. Butler on the 



58. Corvus scapulatus (Daud.). 



The handsome White-bellied Crow is the commonest bird 

 of its family in the country. Roughly speaking, it occurs 

 throughout the Soudan from Abu Hamed. on the Nile to 

 Meshra-el-Rek in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and from the Kassala 

 district across to Western Kordofan. It generally keeps 

 much more within reach of water than the Brown-necked 

 Raven. It seems to be migratory to the extent of moving 

 in the rains from the black cotton-soil districts, such as 

 Gedaref, to the sandy or gravelly tracts. This is apparently 

 because the tenacious cotton-soil mud balls on its feet in 

 wet weather. It keeps closely to a favourite haunt : for 

 example, there are always a few pairs at Halfaia (opposite 

 Khartoum), though in Khartoum itself I have never seen a 

 specimen during four years' residence. At Kamlin on the Blue 

 Nile many hundreds come to roost in a grove of date-palms. 



I have not taken the eggs, but have seen the nests with 

 sitting birds from February to May. 



59. Corvus umbrinus Sundev. 



a. <$ . Khartoum, Nov. 6, 1902. 



The Brown-necked Raven is common on the sandy and 

 gravelly deserts of the Northern and Western Soudan, but ia 

 scarce in the cotton-soil country. 



Along the Desert-railway from Haifa to Khartoum it is 

 always to be seen; it is abundant behind Khartoum, attracted 

 by garbage from the town ; and it is constantly met with on 

 the deserts and Jebels of Kordofan. 



I did not see it once on the Dinder, Rahad, Atbara, or 

 Setit Rivers (March to May 1904). 



60. Corvus capensis Licht. 



I have only noticed the African Rook between Kaka and 

 Fashoda, the district in which Mr. Hawker met with it. 



61. Dicrurus afer (Licht.) . 



This Drongo is a fairly common bird on the Upper Blue 

 Nile and its tributaries, on the Atbara and Setit, and on the 

 more thickly wooded parts of the White Nile. Its habits 

 resemble those of the allied species. 



