170 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CROW. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., 



Ornithologist, Australian Museum, Sydney. 



CORVUS BENNETTI, Sp. nOV. 



Adult male. — General colour above and below, black glossed 

 with purple ; primaries and tail feathers black, slightly washed 

 with bronzy-green ; bases of the feathers on the upper parts snow- 

 white ; bill and legs black ; iris white. Total length, 16 inches; 

 wing, 12.3 inches; tail, 7.3 inches ; bill, 1.85 inch; tarsus, 2.2 

 inches. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Habitat. — Moolah, Western New South Wales. 



This species, with which I have associated the name of its 

 collector, the late Mr. Kenric Harold Bennett, is also found in 

 some parts of Victoria and South Australia. It may be distin- 

 guished principally by its much smaller and straighter bill, its 

 average smaller measurements, and by having the iris pure white 

 in the adults of both sexes. I purpose to distinguish it by the 

 vernacular name of the Small-billed Crow. 



The eggs of this species vary from three to five in number for 

 a sitting, are oval or elongate-oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained and its surface lustrous. The ground colour is of a very 

 pale greenish-grey, which is almost uniformly marked all over 

 with numerous very fine scratches of light umber, and in some 

 specimens are intermingled on the larger end with dots, spots, 

 and small blotches of olive-brown. Length — (A), 1.65 x 1.02 inch ; 

 (B), 1.75 x 1 inch; (C), 1.67 x 1.03 inch. 



A full account of habits, nidification, &c, will be shortly 

 published in Part i. of " Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," 

 now in the press. 



For the purpose of comparison Vigors and Horsfield's measure- 

 ments are here given from their original description of Corvus 

 coronoides in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of 

 London. Total length, 22 inches ; wing, 14 inches ; tail, 9 

 inches; bill, 2.3 inches ; tarsus, 2.3 inches. 



The bills of three average specimens of C. coronoides and 



G. bennetti measure as follows : — 



G. coronoides. 



Length of Height at Width at T ,. 



Bill. Nostril. Nostril. Locality. 



2.2 in. ... 0.8 in. ... 0.7 in. ... Clarence River, N.S.W. 

 2.2 in. ... 0.8 in. ... 0.7 in. ... Wide Bay, Queensland. 

 2.27 in. ... 0.82 in. ... 0.7 in. ... Port Darwin, Northern Terri- 



G. bennetti. 



tory of South Australia 



1.9 in. ... 0.67 in. ... 0.65 in. .... Moolah, Western N.S.W. 

 1.85 in. ... 0.66 in. ... 0.66 in. ... ,, ,, 



I.85 in. ... 0.65 m. ... 0.65 in. ... ,, ,, 



