571 



breeding-season, it is by no means solitary, but is as sociable and gregarious as tbe Eook or 

 Jackdaw. Mr. C. W. Wyatt believes that he saw it on the peninsula of Sinai ; but it does not 

 occur in Africa, being replaced in North-east Africa by Corvus umbrinus and Corvus affinis, and 

 in North-west Africa by Corvus tingitanus, which latter species also inhabits the Canaries and 

 Madeira. 



To the eastward it is met with as far as Eastern Siberia. De Filippi records it from 

 Teheran, and Messrs. Blanford and St. John found it common in the highlands of Persia ; but 

 the former did not observe it in Baluchistan. Mr. A. O. Hume states (Stray Feathers, i. p. 205) 

 that it is a cold-weather visitant to Sindh, more especially to Upper Sindh, and abounds at 

 Jacobabad. In Lower Sindh it is less common; but he saw it not only at Hyderabad but also 

 here and there along the Mekran coast to Gwader. 



According to Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 294) it is said to occur in the Punjab about 

 Ferozepore, and also in Upper Sindh during the cold weather only, migrating to Afghanistan 

 and the neighbouring hills to breed, which it is said to do in the North-west Himalayas, and in 

 the neighbourhood of Kashmir. Under the name of C. tibetanus he further records it from 

 Ladakh, Kumaon, and other sites in the more eastern part of the Himalayas ; but he never saw 

 it in Sikkim. Dr. Henderson met with it throughout Yarkand ; and Severtzoff records it from 

 Turkestan, where, he says, it is common and resident, and breeds in the mountains at an altitude 

 of from about 3000 to 8000 feet, and occasionally is found as high as from 12,000 to 18,000 feet 

 above the sea-level. 



In Siberia it was met with by Von MiddendorfF everywhere in the Taimyr country, but he 

 never observed it in the steppes of Southern Siberia, though he met with it again at the 

 Ishatskaya station, not far from Atshinsk ; and it occurs from Irkutsk up to the south-east coast 

 of the Sea of Ochotsk, and even in Mantchuria, but is not common. Radde says that they do 

 not all winter in South-east Siberia, but most arrive in large flocks at the Tarei-nor early in 

 March. Near Kulussutajefsk and in the Bureja Mountains he found a few pairs during the 

 winter. It is, he says, found almost everywhere ; and he speaks of it as occurring in the Upper 

 Irkut valley, on the Oka, and at Lake Baikal. Dr. von Schrenck states that it is met with 

 throughout the Amoor country, being most numerous on the coast and on the island of Saghalien. 

 It does not appear to occur in China or Japan, being there replaced by Corvus japonensis, Bp. 

 (C. macrorliynclms, Schlegel), which differs in having only the upper part of the throat covered 

 with lanceolate feathers, the rest of the feathers on the throat and neck being soft and full- 

 webbed, and it has moreover a shorter wing. 



As regards the American Raven, I cannot, after a most careful examination of a series of 

 specimens, discover any distinctive character whereby it can be distinguished, even as a subspecies. 

 Professor Spencer F. Baird, in his recently published work on North-American birds, writes as 

 follows : — " Though easily distinguishable from the European bird, the American Raven is so 

 nearly related to it as to be beyond doubt referable to it as a variety. The differences presented 

 in a very large series of both forms are, however, very constant and tangible. In the American 

 bird the bill is always longer and less deep, and the plumage is more highly burnished, while 

 the wings, especially the secondaries, are of a perceptibly more reddish violet than the other 

 portions." But I cannot find that these differences hold good ; for in the series I have examined 



