468 CORVUS MACRORHYNCHUS, of Wagler. 



color of the bases of the feathers of the mantle. This appears 

 to me also to be an unreliable character where this particular 

 Crow is concerned. No doubt white bases to the mantle of the 

 feathers greatly predominate in the Andaman birds, are common 

 in Tenasserim specimens, and more rare in Indian birds ; but 

 again, one has only to look at the above table to see that this 

 character cannot be of specific value. Moreover, I chanced to 

 discover that this character is not always constant in the same 

 bird, and 1 came across specimens in which the bases of the 

 feathers of the mantle were one color, and those of the rump, or 

 the breast of another, say white in one place, greyish-white in 

 another, or grey in one, brownish-grey in another. 



In my table I have invariably recorded the color of the 

 bases of the feathers of the interscapulary region. In my opi- 

 nion every one of the specimens entered in my table belong 

 to one and the same species ; and, though I have not had the 

 opportunity of examining specimens from the Malay Peninsula 

 and the Archipelago, still, as Mr. Sharpe explains that the only 

 tangible difference between levaillanti and macrorhyncha con- 

 sists in the color of the bases of the feathers — a character which 

 I have found unreliable in this group of races, — I adopt Wagler's 

 as the oldest name for our Indian and Burmese birds. 



With reference to this color of the bases of the feathers I see 

 that Mr. Sharpe by this diagnoses validissima and phil/ppina, 

 but certainly in some few of our Indian birds the bases of the 

 feathers are as absolutely pure white as anything can possibly be. 



Again, I see that he divides the sub-group containing macror- 

 hyncha from enca and its allies, on the plumage of the former 

 having always some shade of green in it; but while I quite admit 

 that macrorhyncha (apnd nos) generally shows in certain lights 

 a certain greenish tinge on the outer w r ebs of the earlier pri- 

 maries and their coverts, still we have freshly-moulted speci- 

 mens, which are all purple, and in which I can discover no shade 

 of green. The green shade, I believe, only comes after the fea- 

 thers have been for some time exposed to light and other at- 

 mospheric influences. In moulting birds the green tinge of the 

 old feathers contrasts strongly with the rich violet purple of the 

 new ones. 



It is rather presumptuous on my part to say so ; but I really 

 think that Mr. Sharpe would have done better to unite the 

 whole of his genus Corone with Corvus. 



Recurring to our Indian and Burmese birds I notice that 

 there is an extraordinary amount of variation in the extent to 

 which the tails of these are rounded or graduated. For instance, 

 in one Ootacamnud bird, there is only a difference of 5 be- 

 tween the longest and shortest tail feathers; in another the 



