Crow-Like Birds. 83 



Chapter XVI. 



CROW-LIKE BIRDS (Corvidce). 



A personal examination of various genera and species of this family 

 has convinced me that I have been quite wrong in accepting as 

 correct the statements of even scientific ornithologists respecting 

 the form of the bill in the Crows ; it only proves once more that if 

 you wish to arrive at the exact truth you must not accept even the 

 dicta of the most reliable without the convincing evidence of your 

 own eyesight. 



The sexual differences in the bills of the Corvidce are almost 

 invariably of the same nature as in the Thrushes, and not the reverse, 

 as I had been led to believe by the positive assertions of Stevenson 

 and others, the males (not the females) being generally characterised 

 by a longer and more slender form of bill. In most species this is a 

 well-marked character, though in typical Corvus, or Corone (as the 

 genus is sometimes called), the difference between the sexes is less 

 strongly defined than in most of the other genera. 



It will, I think, be more convenient to note the English and 

 foreign species under each genus : — 



The Choughs (Pyrrhocorax). 



Common Chough {Pyrrhocorax graculus). 



The female has a shorter and slightly thicker bill than the male ; 

 she is also a trifle smaller. 



Alpine Chough {Pyrrhocorax alpinus). 



In this short-billed species the sexual differences are similar in 

 character to those of the preceding. 



Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes). 



Contrary to Stevenson's statement, the bill of the male is longer 

 and rather more slender than that of the female ; she is also a 

 rather smaller bird, and her wings are a little browner. Some 

 males have a tawny suffusion on the spots on the breast, but this 

 may be an inconstant character, 



