524 couvus couAX. 



On the 23rd we again went to the nest, and my brother climbed to it, finding 

 three young and one egg, so that another must have been laid before he took 

 three out of the first six. The egg still remaining, which he brought down, 

 had been cracked, and on blowing it I found a dead bird in it, about one half 

 incubated,] 



[§ 2794. i^o^^r.— Elveden, 29 February, 1860. "A. N." 



The nest was in the Duke's Ride Plantation, close to but not on the same 

 tree as last year's. I found it one day in February, and H. P. N. tried to 

 climb to it, but did not succeed. I was in fear lest the great gale of the 28th 

 of February should blow it down, and accordingly went the next day to see 

 after it. The gamekeeper met me at the nest and climbed up. He reported 

 seven eggs, and I told him to bring me down four, which he did. Only two 

 young birds were hatched, or at least grew to maturity. These I sent about 

 the middle of April to Dr. Griffith.] 



[§ 2795. Five.— Eheden, 4 March, 1861. "A. N." 



Early in February I walked to the end of the Duke's Ride Plantation, and 

 sat down there for about half an hour with W. G. N. Just as we were going 

 away, the Ravens arrived and settled on the breck about two hundred yards 

 from us. On being put up, they flew short distances, and from their manner I 

 was confident they were about to have their nest near that of last year. Later 

 in the month the gamekeeper told me they had completed their nest there, and 

 I rode to see it a few days after. It was last year's nest repaired, I suppose, 

 for the season. On the evening of the 4th March I went with a lad to 

 the place, and he, climbing up the tree, told me there were seven eggs in the 

 nest. I therefore desired him to bring down five, leaving, if he could, two 

 sound ones in it. This he did, and I blew the five the same night, finding them 

 all sound, and about three or four days incubated. He told me that the nest 

 was lined with Rabbits' " fluck." The old birds were about, as usual, making 

 a great disturbance all the time. I think that they have not been quite so 

 constant in their attendance at the house this year as usual.] 



[§ 2796. Four.— Vnst, Shetland, 1854. From Mr. J. Smith. 



These very extraordinary eggs my brother and I do not hesitate to attribute 

 to Corvus co)-ax, though we have never seen or heard of any belonging to that 

 species in the least like them. They are of the size and have the grain of 

 Ravens' ; but have a cream-coloured or pale flesh-coloured ground, blotched 

 with reddish-brown and pale lavender, so as to present very much the general 

 appearance of some Ralline eggs, e. ff. those of Porphyrio. Of course, there is 

 a strong similarity between them and those of the South-African Corvus 

 copensis, which are usually, if not always, coloured in the same way, and often 

 nu)re brilliantly. Just as great a divergence from the normal coloration is 



