THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



attention of any one who observes him ; on the Burmese 

 frontier he has a near relative in the Burmese House -crow 

 (Corvus insolens) which is of the same size, but dark-necked 

 and with a different note, but similar in habits. Outside 

 India he has of late years been introduced as a scavenger 

 into Zanzibar, where I first made his acquaintance in the 

 wild state ; but as a sanitary bird he is, in my opinion, 

 much inferior to his hated rival, the kite. Moreover, 

 there are, of course, Crows of other kinds in Africa, as 

 there are in all the large divisions of the world except in 

 South America, where the place of these birds is taken by 

 the carrion hawks, which exhibit in their habits the com- 

 bined rascality of Crow and kite. One of this group can 

 often be seen at Zoological Gardens in the person of the 

 Caracara hawk, a very handsome but cowardly and mis- 

 chievous bird. It will be interesting to see what will hap- 

 pen when Crows at length gain a footing in South America, 

 for some one is sure to introduce them sooner or later, just 

 as our own rook (Corvus frugilegus) at home was lately his 

 trial in South Africa. Of course indiscriminate introduc- 

 tion like this is much to be condemned from the point of 

 view of the practical man, though from that of the 

 naturalist it is of great interest, for future generations 

 of observers will find in it an experiment in evolution. 



Crows are certain to have an important influence on the 

 fauna of a country, if only from their cunning arid their 

 Jong life. Whether Hesiod, when he said " Nine genera- 

 tions lives the croaking Crow ' ' was strictly accurate is 

 open to considerable doubt ; the oldest Indian Crow I ever 

 knew was at least fifteen and looked as young as ever he 



