1875.] 



Crows, Jays ^ etc. 



87 



is by the late Sir E. H. Schomburgk.* Sir A, Phayre, referring to it as the 

 common Crow of the branches of the Irawadi, states that "away from the 

 river, on the hills, there is a Crow of the same size, but not with the same 

 tinge on the neck, being of an uniform black throughout."! As regards the 

 Indian bird, an unknown donor has favoured me with two skins differing 

 remarkably in size, but in no other respect. Length of closed wing 11 in. 

 in the larger specimen, 10 in. in the smaller; of middle tail-feathers, re- 

 spectively, 6J in. and 5£ in; tarsus If in. and 1£ in. Some Ceylon 

 specimens now (1872) living in the London Zoological Gardens are decidedly 

 smaller, and rather darker coloured than Bengal or Akyab specimens ; and 

 I have seen other specimens from Ceylon, which again were darker, coloured 

 and approximately melanous % 



[Rangoon, Tonghoo ( W, i?.). The melanoid variety referred to has 

 recently been separated and named C. insolens, Hume (Str. Feath. ii. p. 480). 

 The late Mr. G. E. Gray (H. List, ii. p. 14) restricted Yieillot's title of 

 splendens (erroneously referring it to Temminck) to a supposed Javan and 

 Sumatran species of Corvus, and adopted Hodgson's title of impudicus for the 

 Indian. The type of Le Choucas gris du Bengale, G* splendens, Yieillot 

 (N. D. viii. p. 441, 1817), came from the Indian continent, and no representa- 

 tive race even of that species is known as existing in either Java or Sumatra, 

 Temminck's statement notwithstanding. 0. impudicus, Hodgson, must 

 continue, as hitherto, a synonym of C. splendens, Vieillot. Another 

 curious variety of this Crow occurs in Tonghoo. Two examples of it 

 are of an isabelline cream colour ; the urapygium and abdomen being dark 

 brown. I do not, however, propose to name it as belonging to a distinct 

 species.] 



Magpie Group. 



172. Pica media. 



Pica media, Blytb, J. A. S. B. xiii. p. 393; P. sericea, Gould; P. caudaia, apud 

 J. Anderson, Exped., p. 259. 



Ehamo, China, Hainan, and Formosa. 



* Ibis, 1864, p. 252. 



t J. A. S. B. xxii. p. 76, xxiv. p. 479. 



% Some time ago I received a packet containing two skins of G. splendens, coloured as 

 in India. Wing, respectively 11 in. and 9J in. ; tail, 6| and 5 J in. ; beak to forehead 2 in. 

 and If in. The latter are probably the admeasurements of the Ceylon race. 





