5S4 MR MACGILLIVllAY ON THE 
ed, the feathers slightly deflected. These characters, how- 
ever, are not distinctive, for another species, the Camion, 
agrees precisely with the Corone^ in this respect. Better 
characters can be obtained from the plumage ; in fact, the 
/only characters that can be of sufficient weight, for the co- 
lours of the iris, are neither such as Temminck has de- 
scribed them, nor are they, as I have already shewn, to be 
much depended upon. 
In the raven, the gular feathers are elongated, raised, 
compact, acuminate ; in the crow, they are small, ad- 
pressed, with the barbs loose at the margins ; — in the ra- 
ven, again, the cervical feathers are long and tufted, ha- 
ving that soft and silky texture which produces an uniform 
glossy plumage, in which the individual feathers cannot be 
distinguished ; in the crow, the same feathers are mode- 
rate, and have that particular texture, in which the plu- 
mage appears composed of small ragged points. 
Here, then, the method which I propose, furnishes a suf- 
ficient character. 
Between the Corvus Corone and C. Cornioo, the diffe- 
rences in the structure of feathers are so small, though they 
do palpably exist, that, for want of terms, I cannot give 
any adequate idea of them. The most obvious differences 
exist in the gloss of the plumage, it being perfect in the 
first, and wanting in the other, and in the different form 
and structure of the gular and pectoral feathers. 
In the Monedula, the gular feathers are small, lax, 
rounded, with the rachis downy, the vertical feathers are 
compactish and distinct, those of the neck blended, soft, 
and elongated. 
The Pica, which is assuredly a true Corvus, is distin- 
guished at once by the long cuneated tail, and the singular 
form of the gular feathers, in which the barbs are few and 
distant, and each feather terminated by a longish bristle. 
