CORVUS CAPENSIS 153 



25. 0. 01, Cape Col. (Sloggett). In others from Cape Colony, the culmen 

 measures 2o and 20 and the wing 13-3 and V2'2. 



N.E. Africa, Adults. Total length 18-0 inches, culmen 2-2 and 2-1, wing 

 13 5 and 12-7, tail 7-1, tarsus 2-6 and 2-5, Kavirondo (Jackson) J & 2 . 

 12. 12. 89. 



Immature. Duller and browner than the adults. 



The Cape Rook is known to range over South Africa 

 generally and North-east Africa, to nearly 16° N. lat. : but has 

 not yet been recorded from the country between the Equator 

 and 10° S. lat. 



The range of this species, although remarkable for the 

 wide tract of country it is not known to inhabit, is far less 

 strange than that of C. uiiihyinus., in which a similar inter- 

 ruption of the known range extends from Kordofan to the 

 Cape Verde Islands. I cannot admit that there is any 

 character for distinguishing a North-east African subspecies 

 of C. capensis. 



The most northern range known for these Rooks in 

 Western Africa is Benguela. Anchieta has collected speci- 

 mens at Galanga, the Koroko River, Caconda and Humbe, 

 and informs us that it is known to the natives as the 

 " Kiquamanga." 



Andersson writes : "I found this Crow very counnon in 

 Ondonga, where it nests. In Damaraland it is very local, and 

 nowhere common ; but it is more frequent in Great Namaqua- 

 land, especially towards the Orange River; and in the Cape 

 Colony it abounds. In Damaraland, where, till lately, the 

 natives never cultivated the ground, it is a shy bird, and I 

 never saw it there near the native villages : but in the Cape 

 Colony it is pretty sociable, frequenting the cultivated laud, 

 where it resorts to the vicinity of domestic buildings, and 

 sometimes follows in the wake of the plough in search of 

 insects and larvae, which constitutes its chief food, though it 

 is said that it will also feast upon carrion, and will sometimes 



