24 COUTIB.E. 



being a ranch browner bird in general coloration, more especially 

 so on the neck and shoulders. Tbe neck-hackles are even shorter 

 than in laurencei and it is rather smaller also than either of the 

 previous forms. 



Measurements. Wing about 400 mm. and ranging between 

 380 and 420 mm. The bill in the Indian form is also more 

 slender than it is in either the Tibet or Punjab Raven. 



Distribution. Sind, Baluchistan, S. Persia, Palestine and 

 N. Africa to Abvssinia. 



Fig. 3. — -A throat-hackle of C. c. ruficnllis. 



Nidification. The Brown-necked Raven builds in cliffs or river 

 banks throughout its \\hole area. In Baluchistan it apparently 

 occasionally breeds in the rocky sides of the steeper and more 

 broken gorges and cliffs. In South Palestine it breeds in great 

 numbers in the river banks or in the many pi'ecipitous ravines 

 in that country and the little that is on record concerning its 

 breeding elsewhere agrees with this. It usually lays four eggs, 

 often three only and sometimes five. Col. R. Meinertzhagen 

 took a fine series of the eggs near Jerusalem. They are very 

 small and can hardly be distinguished from those of a Carrion- 

 Crow but they are rather poorly marked on the whole, less brown 

 than those of the Tibet Raven but much less richly coloured than 

 those of the Punjab Raven. They measure about 45*0 x 31-5 mm. 

 The breeding season in Palestine seems to commence in early 

 March, but in Baluchistan they lay in December and January. 



Habits. This is essentially a bird of the desert or of X'ocky 

 barren coasts and hills and wherever such ai'e intersected by cul- 

 tivated or better forested areas the Punjab Raven or some other 

 form takes its place. It is a more companionable bird than either 

 of its Indian relations and where it is most numerous several pairs 

 may be seen consorting together. 



Meinertzhagen, who has recently examined a mass of material, 

 is unable to detect any characters by which umhrinus of India 

 to Palestine can be separated from rii/icoIUs of Africa. 



.(4) Corvus corone orientalis. 



The Eastekx Caeriok-Ckoav. 



Corpus orientalis Eversm., Add. Pall. Zoogr., ii, p. 7 (1841) 



(Buchtarma). 

 Corvus corone. Blauf. Sc Gates, i, p. 16. 



