THE BARE-DECKED CROW. 



17 



at that time also engaged in the duties of incubation and rearing their young. In character and 

 tempei-ament these birds appeared to be very active and lively, though less noisy than some other 

 species of the family. Their gay plumage was exhibited to great advantage as they flitted from tree 

 to tree, or dashed boldly in pursuit of such of their more plainly-attired neighbours as ventured to 

 intrude upon their domain." 



THE BARE-NECKED CROW (Picathartcs gi/mnocephalm). 



To appreciate the peculiar appearance of this Crow, it should be seen either in a living state or 

 preserved in spirits, because the bare skin of the head loses its colour in the dried specimens. The 

 whole head and nape are bare, 

 but, as will be seen by the wood- 

 cut, there is a fleshy skin, of a 

 bright yellow colour in life, which 

 occupies the whole of it, except- 

 ing the sides of the hinder part 

 of the skull and the ear-hole. 

 This yellow skin passes over 

 the occiput and joins the hinder 

 neck, which is covered with a 

 few bristly feathers. The upper 

 surface is dark grey ; the throat, 

 sides of neck, and under surface 

 white. The home of the Bare- 

 necked Crow is the intei'ior of 

 the Gold Coast, where it is 

 found only in the forests, and 

 being considered fetish by the 

 natives, is with great difficulty 

 procured. The examples in the -5 

 British Museum were obtained 

 by the exertions of Governor 

 Ussher, who, during his resi- 

 dence on the Gold Coast, em- 

 ployed a most intelligent native 

 collector to penetrate into the 

 interior for the purpose of col- 

 lecting natural history speci- 

 mens. This man affirmed that the birds were found in rocky forest grounds, generally in the 

 neighbourhood of streams, building among rocks, and feeding on fresh-water shell-fish, snails, and 

 reptiles. The native in question also procured the nestling and the egg. The latter is like that 

 of many other Crows, and the nestling is coloured like the adult, having the bare head, and being 

 dark grey above, white below, with remains of nestling down. 



THE HUIA, OR NEW ZEALAND WOOD-CROW (Hetcralocha acutirostris). 



This very curious and aberrant Crow is a native of New Zealand, and is not found anywhere 

 else. Even in that country it is very rare, and is becoming fast exterminated, like so many other 

 New Zealand birds. The remarkable difference in the shape of the bill in the two sexes of the Huia 

 led to the belief, for a long time, that these were two species ; but it has since been proved that not 

 only does the male have a very differently shaped bill from that of the female, but that this structural 

 peculiarity serves a good purpose in the economy of the species. The best account of the Huia 

 has been written by Dr. Buller, to whose pen we are indebted for the following extracts 

 from his " Birds of New Zealand " : " Ere long it will exist only in our museums and other 

 collections ; and, for the sake of science, it is important that everything connected with its natural 

 history should be faithfully recorded and preserved. In the absence of any published account of its 



BARE-NECKED CROW. (After Keulemans.) 



