258 



CORVIDjE. 



European, but Mr. Dresser says that, after carefully examining 

 a large series of specimens, he cannot find any specific dis- 

 tinction. It is resident in Dauuria and Turkestan, in some 

 places breeding in the roofs of houses and churches. In the 

 Caucasus it is abundant and it seems to frequent the Ural 

 up to the Government of Archangel. 



The whole plumage is jet black, glossed with steel blue 

 which has a violet tinge on the flight-feathers and tail : the 

 irides are of two circles, the inner red. the outer blue ; the 

 eyelids red ; the inside of the mouth and the tongue yellow ; 

 the beak, legs and toes, coral-red ; the claws black. 



The male measures nearly seventeen inches in length. 

 The beak one inch and seven-eighths : the wing from the 

 carpal joint to the tip eleven inches and three-quarters ; the 

 third, fourth and fifth primaries are nearly equal, but the 

 fourth the longest. 



A female, sent from Tyneham by Mr. Thomas Bond, 

 measured fourteen inches and a half in length ; the beak one 

 inch and a half ; the wing from the carpal joint to the tip 

 nine inches and three-quarters ; the wing-quills were not so 

 decidedly black as those of the male. 



Young birds, as Mr. J. Lumsden informed Mr. Dresser, 

 have the bill and legs at first dull brownish-orange which 

 turns to reddish-orange and finally becomes red. The plu- 

 mage has but little purple gloss until after the first moult. 



