COEONE MACEOEHYNCHA. 347 



pelago it is of medium size, and exhibits the peculiar character of white bases to the feathers of the body ; passing 

 round into India it gradually decreases in size southwards towards Ceylon, the white bases becoming scarcer until, 

 in the latter locality (as far as I can judge from a small series), they disappear altogether ; while stretching north- 

 wards through China and Eastern Siberia to Japan, it increases in bulk and also again loses the white-based feathers. 

 Our bird has usually been styled C. levaillanti, in common with that from South India ; but in accordance with 

 the results arrived at by Mr. Hume on an examination of an immense series of examples from India, Burmah, and 

 Malacca, as well as by myself from an inspection of a number of specimens from a still wider range, in the British 

 Museum, I do not see the propriety of separating it from the Malaccan species. Mr. Hume, in his exhaustive 

 notice of this bird in ' Stray Feathers,' 1877, p. 4G1, shows that the characteristic of the white bases to the body- 

 feathers is not of much value, as it is found in Indian examples and is absent in some from Malacca. He, more- 

 over, remarks that this character is not constant in the same bird, as in some specimens the bases of the mantle- 

 feathers were of one colour and those of the rump or the breast of another. I would surmise, in passing, that 

 these were not fully adult birds, which would eventually have acquired the white bases throughout. As regards 

 size, Mr. Hume's tabulation of seventy specimens shows that the wing in males from Malacca, Pegu, and the 

 Andamans varies from 11-7 to 13-5, and in the Indian race as far south as Ootacamund from 11-5 to 14-0 (the 

 latter dimension being, however, very exceptional, and that of an example from Cashmere). In Ceylon, as will be 

 seen above, it diminishes still further. The Andaman birds are characterized by their length of bill : the culmen 

 of one measured by Mr. Hume was 2-85 inches, and the length of another, from gape to tip, examined by myself, 

 2-5 ; the latter had the wing 13-3 inches, and the bases of the body-feathers white ; the smallest bill in the series 

 in question was 2T5 along the culmen. One example from Eokien, in the British Museum, has the wing 13-8, 

 and the bases of the feathers the same as in Ceylon specimens ; the wing-coverts and secondaries have the same 

 amount of purple reflection : one from Sumatra, wing 12-75, bill to gape 2-3, white bases to body-feathers ; another 

 from N. India, wing 14-0, bill 2-3, feathers whitish at the base ; one from Timor and another from India are greyish 

 white at the base of the body-feathers, but the first-named has the bill very long, 2-6 to gape. Two from Japan 

 have wings 14-16 and 15-0, bills 2-75 and 2-85 to gape ; the wing-coverts in these are a richer purple than in any 

 others. The tint of the hind neck varies : in some it has a greyish-green hue ; but this is not constant in any 

 locality, and a specimen from Nynee Tal is identical with one from Ceylon in this respect. 

 Concerning the coloration of the bases of the clothing-feathers in our birds, I am unable positively to say whether it is 

 ever found to be white, as I did not procure a sufficient series to form an opinion ; in one example some of the 

 feathers have a tendency to a light greyish hue about the base, the others being pale brownish. I commend 

 this subject to future workers in Ceylon ornithology. The tendency with Malayan birds to exhibit white bases 

 to the feathers may be analogous to the grey plumage in the Hooded Crow of Europe (C comix), which freely 

 interbreeds with the black form, and is, according to the opinion of many writers, a mere variety of the latter. 



Distribution. — The Black Crow is very abundant in Ceylon, being found throughout the whole island, but 

 chiefly in the interior, with the exception of the coast between Kalatura and Hambantota, along which it 

 replaces the next species as " a citizen " of the towns and villages there. At Colombo it is common in the 

 cinnamon-gardens, but does not come into the bazaars and streets of the town. Some miles to the south of 

 that place it commences gradually to inhabit the cocoanut-lined coast, until it becomes common along the 

 above-mentioned strip. It is very numerous throughout the whole interior, being found in the forest as well 

 as in the open regions, in which latter it locates itself principally near native villages. In the Central Province 

 it is common up to 2000 feet, frequenting the towns of Kandy, Gampola, Matale, &c. ; above this altitude its 

 numbers materially decrease, and it seldom ranges above 4000 feet. It has, however, been reported of late 

 years several times to have visited Nuwara Elliya for a few clays, departing as suddenly as it came. 



Jerdon writes as follows concerning this bird's distribution : — " The Common Carrion-Crow of India is 

 found throughout the whole country, from the extreme south to the Himalayas, as far west as Cashmere, and 



eastwards it occurs in Assam, Burmah, and the Malayan peninsula In the south of India, as at Madras, 



the Nilghiris, and elsewhere, it is almost as familiar and as impudent as the Common Crow, but towards the 

 north it is perhaps less seen about towns and villages." Mr. Ball remarks that in Chota Nagpur its distribution 

 is somewhat capricious, and its presence or absence in particular tracts it is not always easy to account for. 

 It occurs as high up in the Himalayas as Mussoorie throughout the year ; and Mr. Hume records it from 

 Simla. In Pegu it is common away from large towns (Oates), and southward of this it extends through the 

 peninsula to Malayana, where it has been found in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Flores, Timor, and Bali [Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds) . It occurs, according to Mr. Davison, all over the Andamans, including the uninhabited islands ; 



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