THE 



BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



I.— THE CEOW. 



' Even the blackest of them all, the Grow. " — Longfellow. 



Black though he is, the Crow may fairly head 

 the hst for more reasons than one. His clan is 

 reckoned by most ornithologists as the most blue- 

 blooded among the birds, and comes first in the 

 order of precedence in the official Ust in the " Fauna 

 of British India." And he himself, full no doubt 

 of consciousness of his egregious merits, has already 

 made his bow. to all my readers, even if they have 

 resided ia India but for a day. Various people have 

 amused themselves at the expense of naturalists who 

 call him Conms splendens, but it would be hard to 

 find a better name. See him, as I first saw him, ia 

 the London Zoo among a number of other species 

 of his land, and you will at once pronounce him the 

 sleekest, glossiest, and best got-up fellow of the lot, 

 for most of his upper plumage has an exquisite satiny 

 gloss of purple and green, admirably set off by his 

 grey neck and coal-black mask and cap. Id this, 



F, BC 1 



