CORVUS AFFINIS 143 



Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1860, p. 71), while camping in a 

 deserted part of Palestine, near the ancient fortress of 

 Mesada, first saw a specimen of this Crow in company with 

 a pair of C. lonbriiiiis and observed that their flight was very 

 different, C. affinis "rather sailed than flew, and the motion 

 of the wings was scarcely perceptible. But more marked 

 than all was the contrast of its outline. Its depth of wing, 

 not only long but broad, till the secondaries appeared to reach 

 almost to the end of the tail, and its short broad tail ex- 

 tending to twice the width of the other, made it appear to 

 cover double the surface its companions did and we at once 

 named it the Fantail Raven. But its note was the richest, 

 most powerful, and most musical that ever Eaven uttered. 

 No croak, but a long-sustained cheery cry which decidedlv 

 belied its relationship." He further mentions that on reach- 

 ing the rich oasis of Safieh below Kerak he found the 

 smoking embers of a plundered village, strewn with the 

 corpses of the combatants in a recent battle ; but he had 

 to camp there for the night, and writes : " Wheresoever the 

 carcase is, there will the Eagles be gathered together : and 

 the Ravens also ; for the sun was not above the hori:^on 

 when a steady stream of carrion-eaters, who had scented the 

 battle from afar, began to set in from the south. All the 

 Vultures, Kites and Ravens of North Arabia, seemed to be 

 rushing to the banquet. Against them we perpetrated a 

 regular battiii' on their way to their uncleanly feast. We 

 brought down more specimens than we could carry away of 

 the three species of Raven — the Common, the Brown-necked, 

 and four good specimens of our long-sought Fantail, C. 

 a finis. The Vultures and Kites sailed too high, out of 

 reach of our shot. Had we not been compelled to leave, we 

 might doubtless have stood among the trees, and with a 

 human bait before us, have continued our warfare throughout 



