THE INDIAN JUNGLE-CROW. 
397 
Swallows but with a more direct flight. Their short square tail and 
large expanse of wing render them easily recognizable when flying. They 
are very fond of palm-trees^ and frequently select these trees for the purpose 
of breeding, the nest being placed at the junction of a leaf with the trunk. 
The nest is made of grass and twigs, and is of rather slight make. These 
birds also frequently build in holes of dead trees. The eggs, usually four 
in number, are whitish, marked at the larger end with yellowish brown and 
lilac. In Bengal the nesting-season appears to last from April to J une ; 
and it will probably be found to be the same in Burmah. 
Family CORVID^E. 
Genus CORVUS, Linn. 
370. CORVUS MACRORHYNCHUS. 
THE INDIAN JUNGLE-CBOW. 
Corvus macrorhynchus, Wagler, Syst. Av., Cof^vus, sp. 3 ; Hume, S. F. v. p. 461 ; 
Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 346 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 105. Corvus levaillantii, 
Less. Traite, p. 328 ] Hume, Nests and Eggs,^. 411 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 243 ', Anders. 
Yunnan Exped. p. 589. Corvus culminatus (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 295. 
Corvus vaillantii (Less.), Bl. B. Burm. p. 86 ; Oates, S. F. v. p. 159. Corone 
macrorhynchus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 38. Corone levaillantii, 
Sharpe, Cat. Bi?^ds B. Mus. iii. p. 39. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole of the plumage deep black 
glossed with purple, blue and green, varying in some measure according as 
the light is thrown on the bird. 
Iris dark brown ; legs, feet and bill black. 
Length 19 inches, tail 7*6, wing 12*2, tarsus 2*3, bill from gape 2*3. The 
female is generally rather smaller. 
Since Mr. Sharpe wrote about the Crows in the British-Museum collec- 
tion, Mr. Hume has dealt exhaustively with the birds which inhabit India 
and Burmah, and has shown conclusively, I think, that the character 
depended on by Mr. Sharpe for differentiating C. macrorhynchus from 
C. levaillanti — viz. the colour of the bases of the feathers — is of no value. 
Under these circumstances it appears impossible to keep them separate. 
The Indian Jungle-Crow occurs abundantly over the whole of British 
Burmah except in the south of Tenasserim, where, according to Mr. 
Davison, it is comparatively rare south of Mergui. 
It is found over the whole continent of India as far as the Indus ; in 
