10 COKVID^ CORVULTUK 



1. CorYultur albicollis. White-necked Eaven. 



Corvus albicollis, Lath. Ind. Om. p. 151 (1790) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 167 (1867). 



Le Corbivau, Levaill Ois. A' Afr. ii, p. 5, pi. 50 (1799). 



Corvultur albicollis. Less. Traite d'Orn. p. 327 (1831); Gurney, in 

 Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 153 (1872) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, 

 p. 24 (1877) ; id. ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 417 (1884) ; Holub and 

 Pelzeln, Orn. Siidafr. p. 105 (1882) ; Shelley, B: Afr. i, p. 46 (1896). 



" Ring-hals " (King-neck) of the Dutch. 



Corvultur albicollis (skull). 



Description. Adult male. Above and below glossy black, the 

 head glossed with purple, the throat and upper chest shaded with 

 brown; a broad collar of white round the back of the neck, con- 

 tinuous with a concealed white band across the lower throat, only 

 the bases of the feathers being white. 



Iris brown ; bill dusky brown tipped with white ; feet brownish- 

 black. 



Length 18-00 ; wing 15-75 ; tail 7'10 ; tarsus 2-10 ; culmen 3-00. 



Adult female. Resembles the adult male in plumage. 



Young. Browner than the adult ; some feathers of the white 

 collar streaked with brown ; a pectoral band of white mottled with 

 brown. 



Distribution. South and East Africa. A common species 

 throughout the greater part of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange 

 Free State and the Transvaal, as well as in Mashonaland, Mata- 

 bililand and Bechuanaland. It occurs in the southern portion of 

 Great Namaqualand but not in the northern districts or in Damara- 



