Birds of Gaza land. 7 



their behaviour at Salisbury. They appear to have better 

 memories than raany birds, for not only did the mate of one 

 wliich I shot some years ago in Mashonaland follow me up 

 to my house, wheeling above my head and croaking, but for 

 three or four days afterwards, when going backwards and 

 forwards to my work, I was constantly met by a Crow, 

 presumably tlie same bird, which abused me energetically, 

 flying above ray head or settling in front of me on the road 

 and allowing me to pass within three or four yards of it. 

 Two eggs in my collection measure 46 by 32 mm., and are 

 pale greenish grey in ground-colour covered with spots and 

 small blotches of olive and. underlying violet-grey. The 

 nest was placed twenty feet from the ground in a large 

 thorn- tree, and was small for the size of the bird, as well as 

 remarkably well hidden. It was built externally of sticks 

 and lined with a felt similur to that used by Corvics capensis, 

 but much intermingled with grass and roots. A pair, I am 

 informed by Mr. Brent, build annually near the junction of 

 the Nyahode and Lusitu Rivers. In the low veld these birds 

 quite take the place of the Raven, and I found them to be 

 particularly plentiful in the neighbourhood of Gwaragwara 

 and Malata, near the mouth of the Buzi. 



3. CoRvus CAPENSIS. Black Crow. 



Rh. Mr. Brent informs me that he has noted this CroAV 

 on the Lusitu, but that even there it is extremely uncommon. 

 I have heard of no instance of its nesting in the district, 

 though I have frequently taken its eggs in Mashonaland. 

 In coloration they much resemble those of Pycnonoius 

 layardi, and possess, about the same range of variation, 

 one type being very like that found in the English Missel- 

 Thrush, but of course larger. The nests, usually placed 

 in thorn-trees some nine to twenty-five feet from the 

 ground, were smaller than those of the English Rook, and 

 compactly built of small sticks and twigs, neatly rounded 

 and interwoven, and lined with a thick warm felt of hair, 

 feathers, and down. A stomach contained beetles, locusts, 

 and mealies. 



