THE CROW FAMILY. '• ' 



This is the common crow of Northern Europe and through the East, ranging across India. In 

 the open spaces about Constantinople they hunt for food ; in the garden of the British Club at Nicosia. 

 the capital oi Cyprus, they fought and built their nests ; and they are common in all the towns in Asia 

 Minor. In India they act as street scavengers, fighting over the scraps and bones, often looking very 

 draggled and unkempt. No one, of course, would ever think of killing one in India ; but whenever 

 theyfind their way into fruit orchards they are a serious pest to the Eruit grew ers, and boys are regularly 

 engaged to drive them away. They are not to be confounded with the smaller Glossy Crows (Corvus 

 Spkndens), also common in India and Ceylon ; these are the crows that the management el the Point 

 de Galle Hotel warn their lodgers to beware of ; the notice reads : " Do not leave any small valuables 

 about on the dressing tables, lor the crows may carry them off." When the Dutch were masters in 

 m, these -mall crows were protected by special laws, because they were supposed to be instru- 

 mental in spreading the seeds of the cinnamon plants. 



Tin: Raven oi; " Corbib Crow" (Corvus corax). 



This is the typical form of the crow family, common in the northern regions of both hemispheres, 

 and n i- looked upon bj naturalists as the original form of which the oriental and Australian species 

 are only varieties, and with differences caused by change of food and climatic conditions, 



The raven, in the old wcrld. feeds chiefly upon small animals, such as young rabbits, rats and mice, 

 and it often snaps up young ducks or chickens, -teal- eggs from the poultrj yard and the game preserves, 

 and in winter kills young lambs in the highlands, like its cousin the Hooded Crow. Under ordinary 

 conditions it is a scavenger, cleaning up animal refuse, dead animals and other carrion. 



A writer, in the early part of the last century, divided the ravens into two groups the country 

 ravens, with clean plumage, and the London ravens, with draggled tails and stained wings from 

 grubbing in the streets. 



The raven is the largest of the crow family. It is of a general glossy black colour, with a rich 

 sheen upon the neck and shoulders. In some places it is solitary ; in others gregarious ; and at certain 

 seasons they gather together in immense flocks. 



The Australian Raven or Crow (Corone anslralis). 



Though our common crow is really the Australian variety of the European raven, it is to our 

 bushmen the crow ; and it will probably be known as such to the end of our days, in spite of the dictum 

 of the Ornithologists' Unions. 



As for the differences of opinion among our bird men as to what are the distinctive characters 

 between the white-eyed crow and the hazel-eyed crow, which they distinguish respectively as the crow 

 and the raven, I take the bushman's part and call them both crows. It is a well-known fact that 

 in Britain the raven and the hooded crow breed together, and so do our two species ; hence the border 

 line between the two is certainly not easily recognised by the bush naturalist. 1 



1 . — The Hazel-eyed Crow (Corvus coronoides) is distinguished from the Raven (Corone aus trails) 

 not only by the colour of the iris, but by the bases of the feathers on the upper parts, which are snow- 

 white in the Crow and dusky-grey in the Raven. The latter has a bunch of lanceolate feathers, tinged 

 with green, on the throat. There are two varieties of the Crow, a small species inhabiting western 

 New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, being distinguished as Corvus bennetti. This bird is 

 only 16 inches in length, as compared with the 20-22 inches of his coastal congener. The bushman 

 might easily confuse the two larger birds, as a close examination and handling is necessary to dis- 

 tinguish them by their generic characters, but the little Bennett's Crow would strike him on sight as 

 something different. The Raven is the common bird in the west and central districts, the Crow being 

 more a coastal bird. I have not hitherto heard of the two breeding together. — Ed, • 



