CORVUS AFFINIS 141 



Corvus brachyrhynchos, Bi-ehm. Vogelf. 1855, p. 414. 

 Corvus brevicaudatus, Mull. J. f. 0. 1855, p. 456. 



Adult male. Black, with a gloss on the upper parts purple inclining to 

 gresn on the sides of the head and neck and to deeper black on the breast ; 

 nasal-bristles erected towards the forehead. Iris dark brown ; bill, tarsi 

 and feet black. Total length 19-5 inches, culmen 2-5, wing 15-7, tail 7-0, 

 tarsus 2-7. <? , Adigrat (Blanford). 



Adult female. Like the male. Culmen 2-55, wing 15-3. 2 , Koom- 

 aylee (Blanford). 



The Fan-tailed Eaven ranges over North-east Africa 

 generally, from the Equator into Egypt and from the Upper 

 White Nile and Kordofan into Arabia. 



The only specimen known to me from the Upper White 

 Nile was procured by Emin at Lado. Mr. Jackson saw two 

 at Elgeyu on the Kamassia range and found the crop in the 

 one he shot there full of egg and young birds ; but from 

 Turquel Suk he writes : " Plentiful in Kavamoja, together 

 with C. scapiilafiis and CorvuUur alhicollis.'" 



In Somaliland, according to Speke, it is known to the 

 natives as the " Tukka," and Mr. Lort Phillips writes : 

 "Extremely common in Somaliland from the sea-coast at 

 Berbera to the top of the Ghoolis. It is a persistent and 

 most fearless camp-follower, and is ever on the look-out for 

 scraps from the kitchen. It has a curious habit of walking 

 about with its beak wide open, as if greatly affected by the 

 heat." Dr. Elliot also found them abundant in the country 

 and like G. cditlue had a peculiar habit of soaring in the air, 

 when it could easily be recognised by the form of the wings 

 and tail, the secondaries reaching to the end third of the 

 latter and he writes : "A number would rise in the air, 

 generally in the middle of the day when the heat was 

 excessive, and ascending in more or less extensive circles 

 until they became mere specks in the sky or disappeared 



