CORVUS. 6 



Colonel C. H. T. Marshall, writing from Bhawulpoor on the 

 1 7th February, says : " I succeeded yesterday in getting four eggs 

 of the Punjab Raven. The eggs were hard-set and very difficult 

 to clean." 



From Sambhur Mr. E. M. Adam tells us : " This Eaven is 

 pretty common during the cold weather, but pairs are seen about 

 here throughout the year. They are very fond of attaching them- 

 selves to the camps of the numerous parties of Banjaras who visit 

 the lake. 



" I obtained a nest at the end of January which contained three 

 eggs, and a fourth was found in the parent bird. The nest was 

 about 15 feet from the ground in a Kaggera tree {Acacia leuco- 

 pldi.i-a) which stood on a bare sandy waste with no other tree 

 within half a mile in any direction." 



The eggs of the Punjab bird are, as might be expected, much 

 the same as those of the European Eaven. In shape they are 

 moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, 

 but, as in the Oriole, greatly elongated varieties are very common, 

 and short globular ones almost unknown. The texture of the egg 

 is close and hard, but they usually exhibit little or no gloss. In the 

 colour of the ground, as well as in the colour, extent, and character 

 of the markings, the eggs vary surprisingly. The ground-colour is 

 in some a clear pale greenish blue ; in others pale blue ; in others a 

 dingy olive : and in others again a pale stone-colour. The markings 

 are blackish brown, sepia and olive-brown, and rather pale inky 

 purple. Some have the markings small, sharply defined, and 

 thinly sprinkled : others are extensively blotched and streakily 

 clouded ; others are freckled or smeared over the entire surface, 

 so as to leave but little, if any, of the ground-colour visible. 

 Often several styles of marking and shades of colouring are com- 

 bined in the same egg. Almost each nest of eggs exhibits some 

 peculiarity, and varieties are endless. With sixty or seventy eggs 

 before one, it is easy to pick out in almost every case all the eggs 

 that belong to the same nest, and this is a peculiarity that I have 

 observed in the eggs of many members of this family. All the 

 eggs out of the same nest usually closely resemble each other, 

 while almost any two eggs out of different nests are markedly 

 dissimilar. 



They vary from 1-72 to 2-25 in length, and from 1-2 to 1'37 in 

 width ; but the average of seventy-two eggs measured is 1*94 by 

 1-31. 



Mandelli's men found four eggs of the larger Sikhim bird in 

 Xative Sikhim, high up towards the snows, where they were 

 shooting Blood-Pheasants. 



These eggs are long ovals, considerably pointed towards one end ; 

 the shell is strong and firm, and has scarcely any gloss. The 

 ground-colour is pale bluish green, and the eggs are smudged and 

 clouded all over with pale sepia ; on the top of the eggs there are 

 a few small spots and streaks of deep brownish black. They were 

 found on the 5th March, and vary in length from 1-83 to 1*96, 

 in breadth from 1-18 to 1'25. 



1* 



