PLATE 



XX XI "V\ 



FAMILY CORVIDyE. 

 GENUS CORVUS (Lmnceus). 



rV} HIS is a most widely distributed genus, being found in almost every country except South 

 America and New Zealand. 



CORVUS AUSTRALLS (Gmd.) 



WHITE-EYED CROW. 



T | iHERE is no bird more abundantly distributed over Australia than this, every part of that country 

 being inhabited by it. Specimens from the different colonies present some slight differences, but 

 not sufficient to justify their classification as new species. In one particular they all agree — in the 

 white colour of the eye. 



It is generally met with in pairs, but occasionally, especially when the crops in the fields 

 are ripe , it assembles in small flocks. 



The food consists of carrion, insects, berries, grains, and seeds of all kinds. 



Its croak is one of the most dismal sounds to be heard in the bush, and easily explains 

 why it is, all the world over, considered a bird of ill-omen. 



During the breeding season it lays either three or four eggs in a fairly large nest made of 

 sticks. The eggs are pale, dull green in colour, spotted all over with amber-brown. They are one 

 inch and three-quarters long and one inch and an eighth broad. 



The whole of the plumage is rich, shining purplish-black, with the exception of the elongated 

 feathers on the throat, which are slightly glossed with green ; bill and feet, black ; irides, white. 



Habitats : The whole of the Australian Continent and Tasmania. 



