COEVID^. 155 



I observed the nests of this species in Ondonga, built 

 on palms and other trees, and looking very like Kites' 

 nests. The eggs are of a drabbish blue spotted with 

 pale brown, chiefly about the thicker end ; but I have 

 seen some nearly white, and with the markings more 

 like streaks and lines than spots ; they are generally of 

 a very elongated form. 



The irides in this Crow are hazel-brown, the bill, legs, 

 and toes are black. 



190. CorVTlS capensis, Licht. South-African Rook. 



Le Corneille du Cap, Levaillant's Ois. d'Afr. pi. 52. 

 Corvus capensis, Liechtenstein's Doubletten, Vogel, No. 199. 

 Corvus segetum, Layard's Cat. No. 332. 

 Corvus capensis, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 404. 

 Sharpe's Cat. No. 542. 



I found this Crow very common in Ondonga, where it 

 nests. In Damara Land it is very local and nowhere 

 common; but it is more frequent in Great Namaqua 

 Land, especially towards the Orange River ; and in the 

 Cape Colony it abounds. 



In Damara Land, where, till lately, the natives never 

 cultivated the ground, it is a shy bird, and I never saw 

 it there near the native villages ; but in the Cape Colony 

 it is pretty sociable, frequenting the cultivated land, 

 where it resorts to the vicinity of domestic buildings, 

 and sometimes follows in the wake of the plough in 

 search of insects and larvae, which constitute its chief 

 food, though it is said that it will also feast upon carrion, 

 and will sometimes plunder the crops of maize. It is 



