the Birds of Chinkiang. 431 



myself. We have, however, omitted to state that they have 

 a tendency to be very heavily blotched, although, of course, 

 as in all Crows' eggs, lightly-spotted varieties occur. Thirteen 

 eggs, taken at Chinkiang, average 1*75 x 1\20". The largest 

 of these is 194X120" and the smallest 1-57 x W8". The 

 diameter ranges from 1*26 to 1'13". 



2. CoRVUS MACR0RHYNCIIUS Wagl. 



Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 338; La Touche & Rickett, Ibis, 

 1905, p. 26. 

 This Crow is also a common resident. It breeds in much 

 the same situations and localities as the Collared Crow, and 

 is even more confiding, as I have seen a pair nesting in the 

 chimney of a foreign house in the midst of a crowded suburb. 

 Nest-building takes place in March and April. I have 

 eggs taken on April 16, 20, and 24; the former fresh, the 

 latter slightly incubated. The pair which was robbed on 

 April 16 built again soon afterwards in a tall cypress tree 

 in the Custom House garden, and on May 15 had laid three 

 slightly incubated eggs. The nest is lined with cow-hair, I 

 believe. Five eggs compose the full clutch. The texture of 

 the shell is rather smoother than that of the eg°-s of the 

 Collared Crow. Eighteen eggs taken at Chinkiang are all 

 fairly uniform both in ground-colour and markings. The 

 ground-colour is, in every specimen but one, of a light bluish 

 green, blue in comparison with the eggs of C. turquatus. 

 The surface-marks are sap-green, small and rather streakv 

 or elongated. One egg of a clutch taken by my men has a 

 rough cap of underlying reddish-grey confluent spots, with 

 a lew of the same sort on the rest of the shell. Another has 

 the ground-colour suffused with green. The remaining three 

 resemble the ordinary type, but have besides a number of 

 blotches scattered over them. All these eighteen eggs have 

 underlying greyish-red spots, which do not interfere with the 

 general blue and-green aspect of the egg. The shape is ovate 

 or elongated ovate ; none incline to an oval shape. They 

 average l-67xM4". The largest is l-rCxl'll", the 

 smallest V56x 1*11". The largest diameter is 120", the 

 smallest T06". 



