COEONE MACEOEHTNCHA. 
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pelago it is of medium size, and exhibits the peculiar character of white bases to the feathers of the body' ; passing 
round into India it gradually decreases in size southwards towards Ceylon, the white bases becoming scarcer until, 
in the latter locality (as far as I can judge from a small series), they disappear altogether ; while stretching north- 
wards through China and Eastern Siberia to Japan, it increases in bulk and also again loses the white-based feathers. 
Our bird has usually been styled C. levaillanti, in common with that from South India ; but in accordance with 
the results arrived at by Mr. Hume on an examination of an immense series of examples from India, Burmah, and 
Malacca, as well as by myself from an inspeetion of a number of specimens from a still wider range, in the British 
Museum, I do not see the propriety of separating it from the Malaccan species. Mr. Hume, in his exhaustive 
notice of this bird in ‘ Stray Eeathers,’ 1877, p. 461, shows that the characteristic of the white bases to the body- 
feathers is not of much value, as it is found in Indian examples and is absent in some from Malacca. He, more- 
over, remarks that this character is not consiant in the same bird, as in some specimens the bases of the mantle- 
feathers were of one colour and those of the rump or the breast of another. I would surmise, in passing, that 
these were not fully adult birds, which would eventually have acquired the white bases throughout. As regards 
size, Mr. Hume’s tabulation of seventy specunens shows that the wing in males from Malacca, Pegu, and the 
Andamans varies from 11'7 to 13‘5, and in the Indian race as far south as Ootacamund from 11'5 to 14‘0 (the 
tatter dimension being, however, very exceptional, and that of an example from Cashmere). In Ceylon, as will be 
seen above, it diminishes still further. The Andaman birds are characterized by their length of bill ; the culmen 
of one measured by Mr. Hume was 2-85 inches, and the length of another, from gape to tip, examined by myself, 
2-5 ; the latter had the wing 13-3 inches, and the bases of the body-feathers white ; the smallest bill in the series 
in question was 2-lo along the culmen. One example from Eokien, in the British Museum, has the wing 13-8, 
and the bases of the feathers the same as in Ceylon specimens ; the wdug-coverts and secondaries have the same 
amount of purple reflection : one from Sumatra, wing 12-75, bill to gape 2-3, white bases to body-feathers ; another 
from N. India, wing 14-0, bill 2-3, feathers whitish at the base : one from Timor and another from India are greyish 
white at the base of the bod^'^-feathers, but the first-named has the bill very long, 2-6 to gape. Two from Jai)an 
have wings 14-16 and 15-0, bills 2-75 and 2-85 to gape ; the wing-coverts in these are a richer purple than in any 
others. The tint of the hind neck varies : in some it has a greyish-green hue ; but this is not constant in any 
locality, and a specimen from Nynee Tal is identical with one from Ceylon in this i-espect. 
Concerning the coloration of the bases of the clothing-feathers in our birds, 1 am unable positively to say whether it is 
ever found to bo white, as I did not procure a sufficient series to form an opinion ; in one example some of the 
feathers have a tendency to a light greyish hue about the base, the others being pale brownish. I commend 
this subject to future workers in Ceylon ornithology. The tendency with Malayan birds to exhibit white bases 
to the feathers may be analogous to the grey plumage in the Hooded Crow of Europe (C. cornix), which freely 
interbreeds wdth the black form, and is, according to the opinion of many writers, a mere variety of the latter. 
Distribution. — The Black Crow is very abundant in Ceylon, being found throughout the whole island, but 
chiefly in the interior, with the exception of the coast between Kalatura and Hambantota,. along which it 
replaces the next species as “ a citizen ” of the towns and villages there. At Colombo it is common in the 
cinnamon-gardens, but does not come into the bazaars and streets of the town. Some miles to the south of 
that place it commences gradually to inhabit the cocoanut-liued coast, until it becomes common along the 
above-mentioned strip. It is very numerous throughout the whole interior, being found in the forest as well 
as in the open regions, in which latter it locates itself principally near native villages. In the Central Province 
it is common up to 2000 feet, frequenting the towns of Kandy, Gampola, IMatalc, &c. ; above this altitude its 
numbers materially decrease, and it seldom ranges above 4000 feet. It has, however, been reported of late 
years several times to have visited Nuwara Elliya for a few days, departing as suddenly as it came. 
Jerdon writes as follows concerning this bird’s distribution : — “ The Common Carrion-Crow of India is 
found throughout the whole country, from the extreme south to the Himalayas, as far west as Cashmere, and 
eastwards it occurs in Assam, Burmah, and the Malayan peninsula In the south of India, as at Madras, 
the Nilghiris, and elsewhere, it is almost as familiar and as impudent as the Common Crow, but tow'ards the 
north it is perhaps less seen about towns and villages.” Mr. Ball remarks that in Chota Nagpur its distribution 
is somewhat capricious, and its presence or absence in particular tracts it is not alw-ays easy to account for. 
It occurs as high up in the Ilimalajms as Mussoorie throughout the year ; and Mr. Hume records it from 
Simla. In Pegu it is common away from large towns {Oates), and southward of this it extends through the 
peninsula to Malayana, w'here it has been found in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Flores, Timor, and Bali {Sharpe, 
Cat. Birds). It occurs, according to Mr. Davison, all over the Andamans, including the uninhabited islands ; 
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