22 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



CORYUS UMBRINUS, Sundevall. 



BROWN-NECKED RAVEN. 



CorYUS umbrinus, Suiidp,vall, K. Vet. Ak. Hmidl. 1838, p. 198, (ex 

 Hcdenborg M.S.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iii, p. 17 ; Erlanger, 

 J. f. 0. 1899, p. 495. 



Description. — Adult, winter, from Tatahouine, South Tunisia. 



Entire head, neck and mantle umber-brown ; rest of upper plumage 

 brownish-black, with violet reflections ; tail and quill-feathers darker ; under- 

 parts dark umber-brown ; bill rather straight and fine. 



Iris dark brown ; bill and feet blackish. 



Total length 2050 inches, wing 1535, culmen from gape 250, tarsus 

 2-65. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



A young bird from Djerba differs from adult examples in having a 

 decided bottle-green gloss on its primaries, and in being generally rather 

 darker in coloration. 



Observations. — I see no reason to unite this Raven specifically with 

 C. corax, as some authors have done, for, besides its brown coloration, 

 its very differently shaped bill appears to be a good distinguishing character. 



The first intimation I had of the existence of this Eaven in Tunisia 

 was in 1895, vk'hen on reading over Mr. Aplin's I'eport of his collecting 

 trip in the Regency, I found mention made of his having met with 

 brown-headed Ravens near Tatahouine. It was not, however, until 

 some time afterwards that I obtained, through the naturalist Blanc, 

 undoubted specimens of the bird, and was able to verify this interesting 

 fact. The same year Baron v. Erlanger, when travelling in South 

 Tunisia, also met with this species, and included it in his list of 

 Tunisian birds. (J. f. 0. 1899, p. 495.) 



C. lunbriitus is common in North-east Africa and Palestine, its 

 range extending eastward into Asia, as far as Baluchistan, and it had 

 hitherto been looked upon as an eastern species, till its occurrence 

 in the Cape Verde Islands, and now in Tunisia, upset that opinion. 

 Whether the form met with in the Cape Verde Islands is exactly 

 the same as that found further east I cannot say. From Algeria 



