432 Mr. J. D. D. La Touclic— Field-Notes on 



3. CoRVUS PASTINATOR Gould. 



Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 358. 



The Eastern Rook is resident and extremely abundant about 

 Chinkiang. It breeds every year on the trees lining the 

 bund, just outside the gates of the Custom House, and also, at 

 Golden Island, on the trees outside the Temple gates. The 

 sites for the nests of the Bund Rookery are generally decided 

 upon at the end of January, the places chosen being occupied 

 by the birds for some days previous to building, and the first 

 nests are finished by the end of March. The building of 

 outlying nests and of those of the younger (?) birds is not 

 allowed to proceed until the first half-dozen or so of the 

 early nests — probably those of the leading members of the 

 community — have approached completion, and the former are 

 not ready before the middle of April. 



Two clutches, of four and five eggs respectively, taken from 

 nests in this rookery on April 9, shew great variation — 

 from greenish blue almost unmarked to dark eggs so 

 thickly streaked with sepia-brown and sap-green that the 

 ground-colour is quite hidden. The ground-colour is greenish 

 blue, bluish grey, or dull green ; the surface-marks are in the 

 form of longitudinal streaks, specks, or, more rarely, spots, 

 dull brown, sepia, or sap-green in colour, and there are, on 

 one egg, underlying blotches of pale pinkish violet. Several 

 of the eggs are suffused or smudged all over with sap-green, 

 dark brown, or both. The appearance of these nine eggs is 

 very different from that of the eggs of C. torquatus and 

 C. macrorhynchus. The eggs of clutch A (four, nearly 

 fresh) are elongated ovate in shape and average P72 x T09". 

 The largest is 1*78 x 1*10" and the smallest 1*65 x 1*06". 

 The eggs composing clutch B (five, incubated) are in shape 

 broad ovate (3), ovate, and rather elongated ovate. They 

 average l'Sixl'll"; the largest is 1*66 Xl" 12" and the 

 smallest 1*47 x T15". 



4. Corvus dauricus Pall. 

 Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 358. 



Extremely abundant throughout the winter. It arrives 

 in October and leaves early in spring. 



