30 COB.VIDJE. 



Description. This race is distinguished from the Himalayan 

 bird by its long, verv stout bill and from the other races by its 

 greater size. 



Measurements. Wing about 325 mm. ; the males run from 

 304 to 345 mm. and the females from about 290 to 321 mm. 

 The bill is very long, never under 58, generally well over 60 and 

 running up to 70 mm., the average being about 65 mm. In 

 addition to its length it is stouter and heavier than in any other 

 form. 



Distribution. Andamaus, Assam, Burma, and North and 

 West Siam. I cannot find any satisfactory character which 

 suffices to separate the Andaman birds from the others. In all 

 the island adults the bases to the feathers are very pure white, 

 whereas in the Assam and Burmese birds they range from almost 

 pure black to more than equally pure white. Northern birds 

 have more white than southern, but even this is only a question 

 of degree in average. 



Nidinca,tion. In Assam and X. Burma almost entirely a 

 jungle bird; in Central and Lower Burma it frequents the neigh- 

 bourhood of human habitations more freelv, occasionally building its 

 nest in towns and villages. The nest is the neatest and best built 

 of anv made by Crows, and ] have seen specimens made entirely 

 of moss and moss roots and so neatly lined with hair and fur that 

 they would have been a credit to any bird architect. The eggs 

 number four to six and differ from those of iiitermedius in being 

 duller, browner and darker in their general tint and being some- 

 what broader in proportion to their length. They average 

 43-1 x3l-6 mm. In Assam and Upper Burma the breeding 

 season is during April and May but in Lower Burma and Siam 

 January and February are the laying months. 



Habits. These do not differ from those of the other Jungle- 

 Crows, but over a considei-able portion of their northern range 

 they are shy, retiring birds, generally frequenting heavy forest 

 and never scavenging round about villages. Each pair has its 

 own territory over which it hunts and in the breeding season it 

 is most destructive to other birds' eggs and young. It ascends 

 the hills up to some 6,000 feet but is not common above this 

 height, though it wanders up to 8,000 or even 9,000 feet. It occurs 

 all over the plains except, perhaps, in the driest portions of 

 Central Burma. 



(9) Corvus frugllegus tschusii. 

 THE EASTERN BOOK. 



/*7/M*/niirtert, Yog. Pal. ,i, i>. 14 (1908) (Gilgit). 

 orwb fruyUegus. Blanf. & Gates, i, p. 18. 



Vernacular names. None recorded. 



