62 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



'* The nest is placed, as a rule, on good-sized trees, 

 and pretty near their summits. In the plains mangos 

 and tamarinds seem to be preferred, but I have found 

 the nests on many different kinds of trees. The nest is 

 large, circular, and composed of moderate-sized twigs ; 

 sometimes it is thick, massive, and compact ; sometimes 

 loose and straggling ; always with a considerable depres- 

 sion in the centre, which is smoothly lined with large 

 quantities of horsehair or other stiff hair, grass, grass- 

 roots, cocoanut fibre, etc. In the hills they use any 

 animal's hair or fur, if the latter is pretty stiff. They 

 do not, according to my experience, affect luxuries in 

 the way of soft down ; it is always something 

 moderately stiff, of the coir or horsehair type, nothing 

 soft and fluffy. Coarse human hair, such as some of 

 our native fellow-subjects can boast of, is often taken, 

 when it can be got, in lieu of horsehair. 



" They lay four or five eggs. I have quite as often 

 found the latter as the former number. I have never 

 my.self seen six eggs in one nest, but I have heard, on 

 good authority, of six eggs being found. 



" The eggs, though smaller, closely resemble, as 

 might have been expected, those of the Raven, but they 

 are. I think, typically somewhat broader and shorter. 

 Almost every variety, as far as coloration goes, to be 

 found amongst these of the Raven, is found amongst 

 the eggs of the present species, and vice versa; and 

 for a description of those it is only necessary to refer 

 to the account of the former species. 



"The average of thirty Himalayan eggs is 1.73 x 

 1.18, of twenty Plains eggs 1.74 x"l-2. and of fifteen 

 Nilghiri eggs 1.7 x 1-18. I would venture to predict 

 that with fifty of each there would not be a hundredth 

 of an inch between their averages." 



A specimen of this Crow reached the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in 1873, and another in 1877. 



White-necked Crow (Corous scapuUitus). 



Above purplish-black, with steel-blue reflections ; 

 hind neck, mantle, sides of neck, and breast pure 

 white ; feathers of lower throat white at base ; abdomen 

 and under wing-coverts black, excepting the innermost 

 axillaries. which are white ; bill and feet black ; irides 

 hazel. Female perhaps a trifle smaller and duller, and 

 with a shorter and hea\'ier bill. Hab., Africa south 

 of the Sahara and Madagascar. 



Dr. Stark says ("Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., 

 pp. 13, 14) : — " It usually occurs in pairs, occasionally 

 in small flocks. Like most of its tribe, it is omni- 

 vorous in its diet; at the same time, it shows a 

 decided partiality for animal food, and is always on 

 the look-out for carrion and offal of all sorts. In the 

 neighbourhood of towns it is a hunter of slaughter- 

 houses and refuse heaps, in the country it visits camps 

 and outs)ian.5 in search of scraps of meat or bones that 

 may be thrown on one side. On the coast it visits the 

 beach, turns over the seaweeds, picks up shell-fish, or 

 feeds on dead fish or whales left by the tide. At other 

 times it visits cattle or wild animals and frees them of 

 various insect pests. There is, indeed, very little that 

 this Crow will not eat. 



" Its usual note is a harsh croak, but, like many of 

 the Crows, it has a singular variety of cries, especially 

 in spring, many of them sounding as if the bird were 

 about to choke or was trying to caU with its mouth full 

 of food. 



" The nest, built in September in Cape Colony, is a 

 large basket-work of sticks and twigs lined with wool 

 and other soft material. It is usually placed in a 

 tree, but occasionally on the ledge of a krantz. The 

 eggs, from four to six in number, are bluish-green, 

 spotted and streaked, especially towards the larger 



They 



end, with different shades of olive-brown, 

 measure 1.65x115." 



The London Zoological Society acquired a specimen 

 in 1865. three in 1866, and three in 1874. from which 

 date they continued to arrive fairly frequently. 



White-necked R.i.ven {CorvuUur albicollis). 



Shining black ; imier secondaries slightly brownish, 

 head somewhat pm-plish ; a broad white collar on back 

 of neck ; throat a,nd upper cliest dull brown, an ill- 

 defined whitish band across lower throiat ; bill blaokislli- 

 bi'own, with whitish-horn tips to the ma/ndible®; feet 

 blackitlh brown ; irides lliazel. Female not differen- 

 tiated, but probably a trifle smaller and with shorter 

 bill. Hab., South Africa. 



Dr. Stark I" Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., pp. 11, 

 12) cibserves : — " Foimd alike on the coa^t, among the 

 mountains and on the high veldt, as well as in the 

 Karroo and the sandy wastes of Namaqualand, the 

 ' Ring-hals ' is one of the most widely distributed and 

 best known birds of South Africa. \Vihere not molested 

 it is a boll and fearless si>ecies, frequenting the out- 

 skirts of towns and villages, and the vicinity of fami- 

 hC'Uees, native kraals and outspans, on the look-out for 

 offal and scraps of alll kindis. When reared from the 

 nest it makes an extremely tame and amusing, if some- 

 what mischievous, pet ; it has, in fact, all tlie halbits 

 and idiosyncrasies of the European Raven. Its ordi- 

 nary cry, also, a harsh croak, is, to ray ear, exactly- 

 similar to that cf the latter bird. 



" In the interior the ' Ring-hals ' feeds largely on 

 carrion, and is usually the tu-st bird to detect a carcase. 

 On the cC'aist at devours dead fish cast up by the waves, 

 sheU-fislli of all kinds, the paper-nautilus being a 

 favourite tit-bit, as well as the eggs of penguins and 

 other sea fowl. At times it kills and eats snakes, 

 lizards, frogs, and small tortoises. Nor docs it dis- 

 dain an insect diet ; beetles, gratshoppers, locusts, and 

 termites are all readily devoured, as we'll as ticks and 

 bots picked from the hides of cattle. I have sometimes 

 aimused myself by watching the bold' yet cautious and 

 gentle manner in which one of ^tliese Ravens will 

 approach a reclining ox, and after a preliminary course 

 of soothing caresses, accoonpanied by a soft ' cawing '' 

 note, insert his head into the ear and dexterously 

 extract the ticks. The.«e birds always seem to have a 

 good understanding with tJie older and more experi- 

 enced oxen, who will, at a hint from on© of them, lie 

 down and ]ilace tJiemselves in the most favourable posi- 

 tion for the extraction of their parasites. 



"The 'Ring-hals ' is usually a. resident in CapeColonv 

 and Natal, and roo.'sts all the year round in or n<>ar 

 its nest. This latter is invariably, so far as I have 

 O'bservetl, built on a rock or krantz. on a ledge or in a 

 hole. It is large, and firuil.y constructed of dead sticks 

 aird twigs mixed with pieces of turf and tufts of grass, 

 and is lined with rootlets, wool, hair, gi-ass, and various 

 soft material. The eggs, almost invariably three in 

 number, vary considerabl.v in colour and shape, even in 

 the same nest ; they are of some shade of bluish-white, 

 more or less thicklv marked with various shades of 

 olive-brown, and are not to be distinguished wiih cer- 

 tainty from eggs of the European Raven {Corvus corax). 

 They" average" 2.05 x 1-32. 



" The same nest is occupied year after year. In the 

 neighhourliood of Cape Town the eggs are usually laid 

 in August." 



A specimen of this species was presented to the 

 Zoological Gardens of London by Mr. Marshall in 

 .Tamiary. 1890. Dr. Riiss describes the Thick-billed 

 Raven (0. crassirostrU), although he adm.its that it has 



