CORVUS UMDKINUS 149 



Corvus umbrinus. 



" Corvus umbrinus, Hedenb." Sundev. k. Vet. Akad. Foiii. Stockh. 1838, 

 p. 199 ; Dresser, B. Eur. iv. p. 577, pi. 265, fig. 2 (1874) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. iii. p. 17 (1877) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 636 (1896) ; 

 Alexander, Ibis, 1898, pp. 81, 91; Salvad. Ann. Mus. Gen. 1899, 

 p. 288 Cape Verde Id. ; Eeichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 633 (1903) ; 

 Grant and Forbes, Nat. Hist. Sokotra, p. 22 (1903) ; NicoU, Ibis, 

 1904, p. 35, Cape Verde hi. ; A. L. Butler, Ibis, 1905, p. 326 Soudan. 



" Corvus infumatus, Wagn. 1839," Sundev. (Ev. 1850, p. 130. 



Corvus corax umbrinus, Kleinschmidt, J. f. O. 1906, p. 86. 



Corvus coronc (non Linn.) Dorhn. J. f. 0. 1871, p. 5 Cape Verde Isl. 



Adult male. General plumage brownish-black, with a bronze gloss ; the 

 nasal bristles, which set flat over the nostrils, are black like the lores and 

 feathers surrounding the eyes ; feathers of foreneclc lanceolate. Iris dark 

 brown ; bill, tarsi and feet black. Total length 21 inches, culmen 2-95, 

 wing 14-9, tail 8-4, tarsus 2-95, Egypt (Shelley). 



Adult female. Like the male in plumage. Culmen 2-4, wing 15'4, tail 

 8'3, tarsus 2-4 ; depth of bill at nostrils 0'8, St. Jago (Alexander). 



The Brown-necked Crow is abundant on the Cape Verde 

 Islands, but has not otherwise been recorded from further 

 west than Kordofan and the Nile Valley, from whence it 

 ranges eastward over the southern half of Asia to Balu- 

 chistan. 



On the Cape Verde Islands the species is generally dis- 

 tributed, so it is surprising not to find it recorded from the 

 mainland of West Africa. That caused me in 1896 to enter 

 C. leptonyx (B. Afr. i. No. 637) under the impression that the 

 Cape Verde Island Crow would prove to belong to the same 

 species as the Madeira and Morocco small Eaven, but that 

 has been proved conclusively not to be the case. The two 

 species are very similar, but the Morocco bird has a stouter, 

 more Kaven-like bill, and for comparison, I have given the 

 depth of the bill in the Cape Verde Island specimen I have 

 described. 



Kegarding the Brown-necked Crow on Santiago, Mr. 



