416 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
near his place at Colesberg, and are very destructive in the corn 
and mealie fields. 
Adult.—General colour dusky black, the gloss on the plumage 
having somewhat of a greyish brown shade; the back and wings 
glossed with purple, as also the under surface; quills externally 
dull greenish black ; “ bill, legs, and toes dark horn-colour; irides 
dark brown” (Andersson). Total length, 18 inches; culmen, 2°5 ; 
wing, 13°8 ; tail, 7°7; tarsus, 2°7 (Sharpe, Cat. B. iii. p. 12). 
Young.—Dusky brown where the adult is glossy black, nearly 
all the gloss being absent in the young bird; quills and tail as in 
adult; bill horn-coloured at top (Sharpe, J. a 
Fig. Le Vaill, Ois. d’Afr. II. pl. 52. 
3898. Corvus ScapuLatus, Dand. White-bellied Crow. 
The Bonte Kraai (lit. Parti-coloured Crow) is the commonest of 
the Corvide in the western country, and is distributed over the 
whole colony. It is common near Colesberg, according to Mr. 
Ortlepp, as well as in the Queenstown division, as we are informed 
by Mr. Barber. Mr. Guillemard considers it more plentiful in the 
Cape Colony than in any other part of South Africa which he visited ; 
but we have received it from Zululand beyond Santa Lucia Bay. 7a 
Frank Oates shot a specimen on the Seruli River in October. 
also occurs in Damara Land and extends to Mossamedes and er 
and is distributed over the greater part of Africa. It is usually 
found about the high roads, seeking its food in the same manner as 
C. albicollis. In some districts, chiefly those where H. capensis is 
most common, it is rarely seen. It makes its nest in trees, or on 
rocks ; and its eggs, sometimes six in number, are light verditer 
blue, profusely spotted, chiefly at the obtuse end, with brown: axis, 
1 Gia-idian., $17" * 
Adult male.—Above glossy purplish black, with a shade of Pa 
steel-blue under certain lights; the abdomen and under wing- 
coverts not quite so glossy ; feathers of the throat rather lanceolate 
but lax in texture, the plumes of the lower throat white at base ; 
hind neck, mantle, sides of neck, and entire breast from the fore 
neck to the abdomen pure white; under wing-coverts black, except 
in the innermost axillaries, which are white; bill and feet black ; 
“iris hazel-brown”’ (Andersson). Total length, 18 inches; culmen, 
2-4; wing, 13°9; tail, 7-9 ; tarsus, 2°5, 
a 
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