CORVID^E CORVUS 13 



sson's B. Damara Land, p. 154 (1872) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 22, 

 (1877) ; id. ed. Layards B. S. Afr. p. 416 (1884) ; Holub and Pelzeln, 

 Orn. Siidafrikas, p. 105 (1882) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 46 (1896). 



Bonte Kraai " (Beautiful Crow) of the Dutch Colonists. 



Corvus scapulatus. 



Description. Adult male. Nape, mantle, sides of neck, entire 

 breast, and inner axillaries white : all the remaining plumage black 

 glossed with purple and steel-blue. 



Iris hazel-brown ; bill and feet black. 



Length 18-00 ; wing 13-90 ; tail 7-90 ; tarsus 2-50 ; culmen 2-50. 



Adult female. Slightly smaller but similar in colour. 



Young. Many of the white feathers have dusky edges. 



Distribution. The whole of Africa to the south of the Sahara, 

 including Madagascar. It is very generally distributed over Cape 

 Colony, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, but is some- 

 what local in Mashona, Matabili and Bechuana Lands, as well as 

 in Great Namaqua and Damara Land. It is common in Upper 

 Natal, but is not found on the coast. 



Habits. The Pied Crow, with its contrasting dress of black and 

 white, is a handsome and conspicuous bird that generally attracts 

 attention. It usually occurs in pairs, occasionally in small flocks. 

 Like most of its tribe, it is omnivorous in its diet, at the same time 

 it shows a decided partiality for animal food, and is always on the 

 look out for carrion and offal of all sorts. In the neighbourhood of 

 towns it is a haunter of slaughter-houses and refuse heaps, in the 

 country it visits camps and outspans in search of scraps of meat or 

 bones that may be thrown on one side. On the coast it visits the 

 beach, turns over the seaweeds, picks up shell-fish or feeds on dead 

 fish or whales left by the tide. At other times it visits cattle or 



