A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 325 



661.— Corvus intermedins, Adams. 



(1) Male, Valley/, 6,000 feet, August.— 'Expanse, 40'5 ; 

 wm^, 18-3 ; tarsus, 2-4 ; bill from gape, 2-4 ; bill at front, 

 2-32 ; anterior margin of nostril to tip of bill, r55 ; depth of 

 closed bill at nostril, 0*85 ; closed wings short of tail, 1-65 ; 

 weight, lib. 4ozs. 



(3) Female, Valley, 6,000 feet, August— Expa^nse, 37-5 ; 

 wmg, 12-4 ; tarsus, ^'l ; bill from gape, 2-4 ; bill at front, 

 2-26 ; closed wings short of tail, 2'0. 



The tail is imperfect, not fully grown. 



(3) Female, Sheopuri, 7,500 feet, June. — Length, 30-4 ; 

 expanse, 38-25 ; wing, 12-9 ; tail, 9-0 ; tarsus, 2-1 1 bill from 

 gape, 2-3 ; bill at front, 2-25 ; nostril to tip of bill, 1-5 ; depth 

 of closed bill at nostril, 0-84 ; closed wings short of tail, 2-5 ; 

 outer tail feather short of uropygials, 1-9. 



In^ (1) the tail feathers are not fully grown, but, imperfect 

 as it is, the tail measures S'^, the outer feathers being 1'5 short 

 of the central pair ; in (2) the tail is still more imperfect (the 

 central feathers have not nearly attained their full leno-th), 

 and it measures 8-0 ; (3) has the wings and tail perfect* and 

 fully grown. The gloss is rather more green than purple, and 

 the culmen is somewhat less bowed than in the specimens I have 

 entered as culminatus ; the tail, it will be noticed, is consider- 

 ably longer than that of culminatus, and this seems to be the 

 only tangible point by which skins of the two forms can be i 

 separated. 



The Black Hill Crow is common on the mountains round the 

 valley of Nepal at elevations of from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. It 

 is generally seen in small parties, and has a regular habit of 

 assembling in flocks of fifty or sixty birds, usually in the after- 

 noon, and circling round and round in the air near the crest 

 of the hills. After pursuing this exercise for some time the flock 

 breaks up, and the birds take different directions in twos and 

 threes. Its caw is quite different from that of culminatus, more 

 deep and hoarse, recalling the voice of the Kaven. I first 

 heard of this crow in Nepal from the natives, who told me that 

 a black crow was found on the hills, exactly the same as the 

 species found in the level parts of the valley, except that its 

 voice was different. The breeding season of this bird seems 

 to be later than that of culminatus. I shot a female off the 

 nest, high up in an oak tree in the Sheopuri Forest, in June, at 

 an elevation of over 7,000 feet. 



Mr. Sharpe would, I imagine, assign the name of levaillanti 

 to the_ birds I have called inter medius, the latter title beino-, 

 according to his view, a synonym of culminatus. But Adam^' 



