CORVID^ CORVUS 15 



Matabili and Mashona Lands. According to Andersson it is 

 very common in Ondongo, but very local and nowhere common 

 in Damaraland, becoming again more frequent in Great Namaqua 

 Land. 



Habits. This species, the well-known " Koren-land Kraai " of 

 the Dutch, is generally found in the neighbourhood of cultivated 

 land, for, like the Eook in England, it is a constant follower of the 

 plough for the sake of the worms and larvae that are turned up ; 

 so much is this the case, that in Damara Land, where it is a com- 

 paratively recent immigrant, its appearance seems to have coincided 

 with the first ploughing of the land by the natives. In addition to 

 insects this Crow feeds upon grain and various small seeds, occa- 

 sionally upon carrion. In western Cape Colony it is a constant 

 attendant upon the cattle on the mountain pastures, apparently for 

 the sake of the beetles and other insects obtained by turning over 

 the dung. It is a noisy, clamorous bird, especially in Spring, when 

 it appears to lose all control over its voice and gives vent to a 

 curious variety of harsh, cracked, falsetto notes. 



Corvus capensis. 



The nest, usually built on a tree but occasionally on the ledge 

 of a rock, is large, firmly constructed of dead sticks and twigs lined 

 with rootlets, hair, wool and dry grass. The eggs, three to five in 

 a nest, vary from buff to pink, thickly marked all over with small 

 spots and dots of red, pink and brown. They are somewhat 

 elongated ovates, averaging 2-25 by 1-20. 



My friends, Messrs. Jupp and Ivy, of Grahamstown, inform me 

 that in the valley of the Great Fish Eiver this Crow plays the part 

 of foster parent to the young of the Great Spotted Cuckoo (Coccystes 

 glandarius). 



