154 CORVUS CAPENSIS 



plunder the crops of maize. It is usually found in small 

 flocks, and is a clamorous bird, uttering harsh choking sounds, 

 just as though its crop was full. The nests of this species, 

 which I observed in Ondonga, were built on palm trees." In 

 Cape Colony, according to Layard : " This species never 

 approaches Cape Town, ])ut appears to be otherwise generally 

 distributed." 



Starke writes : " This species, the well known ' Koran-land 

 Kraai ' of the Dutch, is generally found in the neighbourhood 

 of cultivated land, for, like the Kook in England, it is a 

 constant follower of the plough, for the sake of the worms 

 and larvae that are turned up ; so much is this the case, that 

 in Damaraland where it is a comparatively recent immigrant, 

 its appearance seems to have coincided with the first 

 ploughing of the land by the natives. In addition to insects 

 this Crow feeds upon grain and various small seeds, occasion- 

 ally upon carrion. In western Cape Colony it is a constant 

 attendant upon the cattle on the mountain pastures, appa- 

 rently for the sake of the beetles and other insects obtained 

 by turning over the dung. It is a noisy, clamorous bird, 

 especially in spring, when it appears to lose all control over 

 its voice, and gives vent to a curious variety of harsh, cracked 

 falsetto notes. The nest, usually built on a tree, but occa- 

 sionally on the ledge of a rock, is large, firmly constructed of 

 dead sticks and twigs, lined with rootlets, hair, wool and dry 

 grass. The eggs, three to five in a nest, vary from buff to 

 pink, thickly marked all over with small spots and dots of red, 

 pink and brown. 



" My friends, Messrs. Jupp and Ivy, of Grahamstown, 

 inform me that in the valley of the Great Fish River this 

 Crow plays the part of foster parent to the young of the Great 

 Spotted Cuckoo {Coccijstes glaitdarritis)." In Egypt it is the 

 Hooded Crow (Corvus comix) which in like manner performs 

 the part of foster parent (Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 103). 



