559 



CORVUS AFFINIS. 



(FANTAIL RAVEN.) 



Corvus affinis, Eiipp. Neue Wirbelth. p. 20, taf. 10. fig. 2 (1835-40). 



Corvus brachyurus, A. E. Brehm, Journ. fur Orn. 1854, p. 75. 



Corvus brachyrhynchos, C. L. Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 414 (1855). 



Corvus brevicaudatus, J. W. von Miiller, Journ. fiir Orn. 1855, p. 456. 



Corax affinis (Riipp.), A. E. Brehm, Erg. einer Reise nach Habesch, p. 216 (1863). 



Corone affinis (Riipp.), G. R. Gray, Hand-list, ii. p. 12 (1870). 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Riipp. I. c. ; Schlegel, Bijd. tot de Dierk. 1858, pi. 1 B. fig. 26. 



Ad. chalybeo-niger, cserulescenti-violaceo nitente, capite et collo sordidioribus, gula, brunnesceute lavato : 

 setis nasalibus sursum et antrorsiim spectantibus, plumis jugularibus apice bifidis : cauda. rotundata : 

 pedibus et rostro nigris, iride fusca. 



Adult Male (Safieh) . Entire plumage glossy black, slightly duller on the head and neck, and shaded with 

 brown on the throat ; the rest of the plumage, especially on the upper parts, glossed with steely violet, 

 or steel-blue ; feathers on the throat lanceolate, but with the tips bifurcate, the hairy bristles covering 

 the nostrils very stiff and fully developed, dbected upwards and forwards in a fan-shape on the sides of 

 the bill ; wings very long, extending beyond the tail, the secondaries also very long ; beak and legs 

 black, iris brown. Total length about 18 to 20 inches, culmen 2 - 5, width of lower mandible at the base 

 nearly 2 inches, wing 14 - 5, tail 6 - 4, tarsus 2 - 45. 



Obs. The above specimen is rather peculiar, inasmuch as the feathers on the lower neck are pure white at 

 the base, this colour showing slightly through here and there on the sides of the neck. I have not 

 observed this peculiarity in any other specimen. 



The range of this well-marked Raven is somewhat restricted, as it occurs only in Palestine and 

 North-east Africa. Canon Tristram, who met with it in the former locality, writes (Ibis, 1866, 

 p. 71) as follows: — "One evening in January we were encamped at the foot of the ancient 

 fortress of Masada, the modern Sebbeh, with a waterless, lifeless wilderness of salt-hills stretching 

 in labyrinthic confusion for two miles to the sea. It was a scene of stern grandeur and magni- 

 ficent desolation, perhaps unequalled in the world. Yet even here were birds. We had made 

 a Lanner surrender the remains of a Pochard he was conveying to the mountains from the lake, 

 when we observed three Ravens making towards us from the sea ; they were the only signs of 

 life under that canopy of wondrous brilliancy and depth. They too seemed startled and sur- 

 prised when they descried our camp on that untrodden shore, and, curiosity mastering caution, 

 wheeled and wheeled again over and over our heads. But long before they came near we 

 detected an unknown species. Two of them were unmistakably C. umbrinus; the third was 

 strangely different. Its flight was very different ; it rather sailed than flew, and the motion of 



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