1922.] flw Birds of Sind. 535 



I have exaiinneil tlieso Sind birds in the British Museum 

 iind also the whoh? series there, and I see (This, 1921, [). ()24) 

 that Col. Meinertzhaocn has come to the same conclusion 

 which I had formed that birds from Cape Verde Is., Egypt, 

 Palestine, and eastwards to India are all identical. These 

 two Sind birds measure (unsexed): wing 3^0, 403 ; bill 65, 

 61 mm. Birds in the first year have less decided coppery 

 tinge and wings browner than adults. I leave this bird 

 for the present as a race of corax in lack of absolute proof 

 otherwise. 



Corvus coronoides levaillanti Less. 



The only records of this Crow in Sind refer to Blanford's 

 statement (Phys. Geog. Great Indian Desert, J. A.S.B. 1876) 

 that it is found about the cultivation in the Thar and Parkar 

 district, and referring to this (S. F. vii. p. 527) he says: "I 

 know C. duvauceli exists in Sind."'' Apjiarently it is confined 

 to the eastern boundary, and presumably resident there. 



Corvus splendens zugmayeri Laub. "Kan." 

 Throughout the length and breadth of Sind the House- 

 Crow is excessively abundant, its numbers being in proportion 

 to the number of human habitations ; so far as I know, 

 it does not occur in the hills. At sunset these birds flock 

 together to roost in trees, and where these are absent, as at 

 Sukkur, they flight out into the nearest forest, to return again 

 at sunrise, and nowhere have I seen such incredible numbers 

 as in that town. Always noisy, their cawing in a roost goes 

 on at intervals all night. In Karachi they were building by 

 the last week in May (earliest eggs 2 June), but numy have 

 not finished building by mid-June ; the earliest young were 

 out on lb July. Any tree is selected, and a considerable 

 number breed in the numgroves of Karachi Harbour, a place 

 they inhabit more or less all th(^ year, feeding on crabs, 

 molluscs, etc. I have even found nests in a Vulture's roost ! 

 The nests, quite neat affairs, do not differ from those of this 

 bird elsewhen;. Fiv(! eggs is the full clutch, sometimes only 

 four or even three. 



