12 



ground is a very pale pure bluish green, in others it is dingier and 

 greener. All are blotched, speckled, and streaked more or less 

 with somewhat pale sepia markings ; but in some the spots and 

 specks are a darker brown and, as a rule, well defined, and there 

 is very little streaking, while in others the brown is pale and 

 muddy, the markings ill-defined, and "nearly the whole surface of 

 the egg is freckled over with smudgy streaks. Sometimes the 

 markings are most numerous at the large end, sometimes at the 

 small ; no two eggs are exactly alike, and yet they have so strong 

 a family resemblance that there is no possibility of mistaking them. 

 Generally the markings as a whole are less bold, and the general 

 colour of a large body of them laid together is bluer and brighter 

 than that of a similar drawer-full of Eavens' eggs. As a whole, 

 too, they are more glossy. I have one egg before me bright blue 

 and almost as glossy as a Mynah's, thickly blotched and speckled 

 at the broad end, and thinly spotted elsewhere with olive-green, 

 blackish-brown, and pale purple. Another egg, a pale pure blue, 

 is spotless, except at the large end, where there is a conspicuous 

 cap of olive-brown and olive-green spots and speckles, and there 

 are numerous other abnormal varieties which I have not observed 

 amongst the Eavens. 



On the whole the eggs do not vary much in size ; out of one 

 hundred and ninety-seven, one hundred and ninety-five varied 

 between 1/28 and 1*65 in length, and O98 and 1 15 in breadth. 

 One egg measures only 1*2 in length, and one is only 0'96 in 

 breadth ; but the average of the whole is 1-44 by 1-06. 



8. Corvus insolens, Hume. The Burmese Home-Crow. 

 Corvus insolens, Hume ; Hume, Cat. no. 663 bis. 



The Burmese House-Crow breeds pretty well over the whole of 

 Burma. 



Mr. Oates, writing from Pegu, says : " Nesting operations are 

 commenced about the 20th March. The nest and eggs require no 

 separate description, for both appear to be similar to those of 

 C. splendens." 



When large series of the eggs of both these species are com- 

 pared, those of the Burmese Crow strike one as averaging some- 

 what brighter coloured, otherwise they are precisely alike and need 

 no separate description. 



9. Corvus monedula, Linn. The Jackdaw. 



Colaeus monedula (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii ; p. 302. 



Corvus monedula, Linn., Hume, Rough Draft N. $ E. no. 665. 



I only know positively of Jackdaws breeding in one district 

 within our limits, viz. Cashmere ; but I have seen it in the hills in 

 summer, as far east as the Valley of the Beas, and it must breed 

 everywhere in suitable localities between the two. 



