64 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



J^ests are usually placed at heights varying from 20ft. 

 to 60ft. ; but 1 have found some bairely 6ft. from the 

 ..ground, and in manylocalitieisin the West they are rarely 

 jjlaoed over 20ft. up. Here also they are said to occa- 

 sionally nest on the ground, but I have never observed 

 •thie personally. Crows rarely nest in deep forests, the 

 borders of wood* and the river bottoms being preferred 

 for such purpote.'i. The nests are composed outwardly 

 ■of sticks, vreed-stalks, corn-husks, and other coarse mate- 

 riaj, and lined with grape-vine bark, fine roots, dry 

 grass, leaves, eti-aw, ino.?s, rags, \vool, and hair, the 

 lining varying in different localities. Where cattle axe 

 plentiful the nests are often found lined with more or 

 Jess of their hair. These finer materials are well knitted 

 together. The outeir diameter of the neet ie usually 

 about 24in. by 9in. in depth. The inner cup is fi"om 

 ■Ain. to 6in. deep, ajid from 12in. to 15in. in diameter. 

 This prevents the eggs from being tlirown out of the 

 jiest daring high winds when placed in slender branches 

 in the extreme tops of trees, 



" The number of eggs to a set varies from, four to 

 ^ight. Sets of five are moist commonly found, while 

 those of seven are rare, and those of eight quite un- 

 aieual, Mr. A. C. Kemipton, Wolf^^lle, Nova Scotia, 

 writes mie that he found a set of ten eggs in the spring 

 of 1890, which he believes were laid by the same bird. 

 In the Western States ^lsually from three to five eggs 

 eonetitute a set, and those of six, according to my 

 ■obseirvations, are much rarer than in the East. Incu- 

 bation lasts about eighteen days, and both parents assist 

 in this duty. The young are born blind and naked, 

 ■juid remain in the nest about three weeks. While Crows 

 steal many of the eggs of other birds, they apparently 

 do not molest any of their own kind, but if several 

 -pairs nest close together they will steal nesting material 

 from each other whenever an opportunity occurs. The 

 ■old nests are resorted to for several seasons in succes- 

 ■sion where not molested. Only one brood is raised in 

 a season." 



"Crows' eggs are rather handsome, and vary greatly 

 in shape, size, colour, and markings ; the majority may 

 be called ovate, but both short and rounded ovates and 

 elliptical and elongated ovates are also foiuid in good 

 series. The ground colour varies from malachite 

 -and pale bluish-green to olive-green, and occasionally 

 to an olive-buif.* The markings usually consist of 

 irregularly shaped blotches and spots of diffen-ent shades 

 •of browns and greys. In some specimens these are large 

 and irregularly distributed over the egg, usually pre- 

 dominating about the laxgei' end, leaving the gi'ound 

 ■colour clearly visible. In others, again, the markings 

 are fine, profuse, and evenly distributed, giving the 

 egg a unifoaiu dark olive-green colour throughout," 



"The average measurements of 292 eggs in the "United 

 States National iluseimi collection is 41.40 by 29.13 

 miUimetres, or about 1.63in, by 1-15 in." 



The IjOndon Zoological Society fu-st acquired this 

 species in April. 1862. and two were presented to the 

 Gardens an August, 1875 ; it is not probable that it will 

 now be allowed to be impoa-ted, unless it is excepted 

 from protection as a more or less mischievous bird. 



AcsTB.iLiAN Crow (Coront australis). 



Black glossed' with purple, the outer webs of the 

 primaries more steely in colouring; head duller than 

 back; throat with lanceolate, greenish-black feathers, 



* Majo-r Bendire also describe© e,?gs as pinkish buff speckled 

 ■with fine dota of drab; creamy white spotted with lig-ht brnwn. 

 drab, ajid lavender; and ealinon buff blotched with pinki^th 

 viuaceoufi; his descriptions are too prolix to be quoted in full. 



inclining to purple on the lower thixjat ; lower surfaca 

 of flights wholly black ; bill and feet black ; irides dark 

 brown. Female smallei- than male, with rather shorter 

 bill. Hab., Australia. 



Gould says (" Handbook to the Birds of Australia," 

 Vol. I., p. 476) : "In Western Australia, for the greater 

 part of the year, tliis bird is met with in pairS' or 

 singly ; but in May and June it congregates in families 

 of from twenty to fifty, and is then very destructive 

 to the farnwr's seed crops, which appear to be its only 

 inducement for assembling together, as it is not known 

 to congregate at any other period. In New South Wales 

 and Tasmania it is also usually seen in paire, but occa- 

 sionally congregated in small flocks. At Port Essdng- 

 ton, whei-e it is mostly seen in pair's, in quiet, secluded 

 places, it is not so abundant as in other parts of 

 Australia, 



" The stomach is tolerably muscular, and the food 

 consists of insects, carrion of all kinds, berries, seeds, 

 grain, and other vegetable substances. 



" Its croak very much resembles that of the Canion 

 Crow, but differs in the last note being lengthened to 

 a gi'eat extent. 



" Its nest, which is formed of sticks and of a large 

 size, is usually placed near the top of the largest gum 

 trees. The eggs which are three or four in nuimber, 

 are very long in fonn, and of a. pale dull green colour, 

 blotched, spotted, and freckled all over with umber- 

 brown, the blotches being of a much greater size at 

 the larger end ; they are about l|in. long by l^in. 

 broad." 



This species first arrived at our Gardens in May, 

 1865 ; a .second was purchased in May. 1872. and two 

 were received in exchange in July. 1876; specimens 

 were presented ia June, 1883. and July, 1890, and two 

 were purchased in July, 1893, 



Abtssini.\n Chow (Ekinucorax affinis). 



Above glossy purplish-black ; sides of face and neck 

 greenish ; nasal bristles black, coonpletely hiding the 

 nostrils; -under surface glossy steel-black; bill and feet 

 black ; irides brown. Female not dift'crentiated, but, 

 judging from Heuglin's remarks, a trifle smaller than 

 the nvale. Hab., North-eastern Africa, ranging into 

 Palestine. 



Heuglin observes (" Ornithologie Nord-Ost Africae," 

 p. 505) : " This species generally lives altogether more 

 gregariously than C umbj'inus and scaimlaris in the 

 Stejjpes, mountains, and on the seashore ; als'O it is not 

 infrequently to be seen, round human habitations. In 

 high country it appears to nest in colonies on the cliffs. 

 I saw there whole troops circling about the rocks in 

 their jwculiar flight after the manner of Jackdaws; in 

 the iilains onlv occurring singly or at most in -[^irs, and 

 here frequently an inhabitant of the most sterile deserts, 

 particularly near caravan cam.ps and the hollows of 

 wells." 



Mr. E. Lort Phillips, describing bii-ds from Somali- 

 land (The Ibis. 1885, p. 389), says: "Ci-ows (probably 

 Corvxis affinis) never failed to api>ear in the neighbour- 

 hood as soon as the tents were pitched. Nearly all 

 the Crows' nests contained eggs of the Great Six>tted 

 Cuckoo, and in one nest there were twelve eggs, four 

 only belonging to the rightful owner," In The Ibis for 

 1891, p. 628, E. Cavendish Taylor describes the eggs 

 as " smaller tlian eggs of C'orvus umbrinus, and very 

 blue in colour." The fact that the bird actually is the 

 Abvssinian Crow is proved bv a .skin obtained bv Capt. 

 Swayne. R.E. (cf. The IbL% 1894, p. 328). 



Col. J. W. Yerbury, -miting on the birds of Aden 



