Letters, Announcements, 5fc. 141 



tion, and a complete series^ connecting this with the fully adult 

 birds. 



As regards Corvus tibetanus [tom.cit. p. 213), unless this is the 

 only species we have in India, it is not separable from C corax. 



Dr. Jerdon brought down specimens from Thibet, which I 

 have carefully compared with specimens of the Raven so com- 

 mon throughout the Punjab, which breeds as low down as Delhi ; 

 and though the Thibet birds were larger than some of those 

 from the Punjab, they were smaller than others. 



The Indian Raven, whether of the plains or the hills, is clearly 

 of one species. Individuals in both localities vary a good deal 

 in dimensions, but apparently not more so in one place than 

 another. Whether our Indian Raven is the same as the Euro- 

 pean bird, or larger, may be decided by a reference to the fol- 

 lowing dimensions taken from a fine male directly after it was 

 killed: — Length 24-75; expanse 52; wing 1775; tail 10*5; 

 wings when closed reaching to within "25 of end of tail ; tarsus 

 2"4; middle toe and claw 2*75 ; bill from forehead along curve 

 2*95 inches; weight 2 lbs. 8 oz. I have one or two males 

 slightly larger, several smaller than this ; the females run smaller 

 than the males. 



I think I was the first to notice that this species bred freely 

 throughout the Punjab. They lay mostly in January, but a 

 few pairs in December, February, and March, building large 

 stick nests in moderate-sized trees, and laying four or five eggs, 

 which vary from 1'72 in. to 2*25 in length, and from 1*2 to 1*37 

 in width, the average of seventy-two eggs measured being 1*94 

 by 1-31 inch. 



It is by no means remarkable (c/. loc. cit.), I think, that Lanius 

 cristatus was not observed in the valley of the Sutledge. This 

 species is essentially a Bengal one, and is of extreme rarity, if, 

 indeed, it ever occurs, in the plains of the north-west provinces 

 and the Punjab. All the specimens that I have yet obtained 

 were either from Oude, north of the Goomtee, the Rohilcund 

 Turai, or the Dhoon, or else from the country east of Allahabad. 



Westward of the slanting line I have thus indicated, L. are- 

 narius replaces it, and in winter this species is abundant in the 

 sandy plains of the Punjab beyond all its congeners. 



