372 Zoological Society :-^ 



Genus Prinia. 

 Prinia inornata, Sykes. Common Wren Warbler. 



I believe that the nest and egg herewith forwarded, are the 

 nest and egg of this httle Warbler, though, not having shot the 

 bird from her nest, I cannot .say so positively. I think, hovpever, 

 that Dr. Jerdon's observation, though it differs in not mentioning 

 the spots on the eggs, partly corroborates it. He says : " I once 

 procured the nest of this species ; it was open at the top, neatly 

 enough made of grass well interwoven, without any lining, and fixed 

 in a low bush very near the ground ; it contained four blue eggs." 

 The nest which I forward was found in the midst of some low jimgle 

 shrub, about a foot from the ground, during the monsoon. The egg 

 is a little less than y^j^ths of an inch in length, by rather more than 

 •^gths in width, of a rich blue gromid, blotched and spotted with two 

 shades of red-brown and pale purple. 



Tribe Conirostres. 

 Family CoRviDiE. Subfamily Corvin.-e. 

 Genus CoRvus. 

 CoRVUS splendens, Vieill. Common Indian Crow. 



All the noise and impudence of the tribe appear to be concentrated 

 in the Common Indian Crow. They abound, I believe, in every part 

 of the Indian continent ; and when to their number is added their 

 thievish character, some idea may be formed of the nuisance they 

 are. There is, however, a redeeming point in their character, viz. 

 that they are very efficient scavengers. X\\ officer of the Bombay 

 army told me an anecdote illustrative of their sagacity, which he 

 himself witnessed. Some crows had been sitting near a young dog, 

 watching him whilst engaged with a bone. Having apparently con- 

 certed the plan, one of them alighted, stepped up and took a peck 

 at the dog's tail ; the dog, irritated, made a snap at the 1)ully ; 

 on which a comrade, who appears to have been ready, made a dash 

 and went off with the prize. He told me that he had seen another 

 crow coolly walk off with a bit of bread, having actually taken it out 

 of the hand of a child who was eating it. No one who has not been 

 in India can form an idea of the noise which these crows make. In 

 the morning, in Bombay, the tops of some of the bungalows are 

 covered with them, s(iuabbling and chattering, and it is reported that 

 these black gentrj' are not proof against the seducing influence of the 

 pots of toddy hanghig up in the cocoa-nut trees. The juice of these 

 trees is harmless before the sun is hot, but if taken after, has a deci- 

 dedly inebriating effect. The common Crow begins to build at the 

 end of x\pril, forming its nest of sticks. It lays four eggs, of a dull 

 greenish-blue, blotched and spotted with greenish-brown and grey, 

 ly^oth in. in length by rather more than 1 inch in width. The eggs, 

 however, differ in size and colour. 



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