190 Messrs. Elwes and Buckley on the Birds of Turkey. 



Included by Col. Drummond-Hay in his list, but never iden- 

 tified by us. 



61. CORVUS FRUGILEGUS, L. 



Common in Macedonia and Bulgaria. 



62. CoRVUS MONEDULA, lb., var. coLLARis, Drumni. 

 Notwithstanding what Col. Drummond-Hay has said (Ann. 



& Mag. N. H. xviii. p. 11) concerning this bird, we cannot 

 allow that it is any thing more than a local variety of the com- 

 mon Jackdaw. We took some trouble to clear up this disputed 

 point, and shot and skinned many specimens. We think that, 

 though a very old well-marked Turkish Jackdaw might at first 

 sight appear quite different from our English bird, yet, on com- 

 paring a number of specimens, the Collared Jackdaw glides so 

 imperceptibly into the common species that it cannot be re- 

 garded as any thing more than an eastern race. The young birds 

 show no more collar than ours do, though always a little grey 

 on the head ; and in habits they are absolutely similar *. The 

 Jackdaw is about the commonest bird in Macedonia, every 

 house and village being tenanted by a large number. They 

 are never molested by the natives, and are consequently very 

 tame ; but if the least notice is taken of them, or a shot fired, 

 they alter their habits at once, and become as wary as an old 

 Magpie. Every evening the Jackdaws from the whole plain of 

 Salonica used to assemble in large bands, and fly to a great 

 roosting- place in the impenetrable marshes of the Karasmak 

 river. The numbers there must be something extraordinary ; 

 for we found that the Jackdaw^s from every place we stayed at 

 in the country left at night for the same roosting-place, in 

 some instances thirty miles away. The collared race is found 



* [It seems as if Corvus collaris might be looked upon as the intermedi- 

 ate form between the C. moneduln of Western Europe and the C. clauuricus 

 of Central Asia. A comparison of the figures given of this last by PaUas 

 (Zoogr. R.-As. pi. XV.) and by Messrs. Gray and Mitchell (Gen. B. 

 pi. Ixxvi.) shows that it differs a good deal in the hue of the light- 

 coloured neck and breast, which in Pallas's figure are represented as 

 much less well defined than in Mitchell's. IIH. Dybowksi and Parrex, 

 in their list of Daurian birds, observe (J. f. O. 1868, p. .3.32) that more or 

 less black varieties occur. — Ed.] 



