The Hiftory of A N I M A L S, 389 
This is a native of the Eaft, and of many other parts of the world ; alfo they have 
it in Italy, but not common ; and it is met with in fome parts of Germany, particu¬ 
larly about Strafburg. It feeds on infe&s: almoft all the writers on birds have defcribed 
it, though many, who have done fo, feem never to have feen it. Gefner calls it 
Cornix caerulea; Aldrovand, Cornix casrulea and Garrulus Argentoratenlis j Willughby, 
Wormius, and others, Cornix casrulea. I once faw one of this fpecies in Charlton-^ 
foreft in Suflex, but was not able to fhoot it. I think it the moft beautiful of all the 
European birds. 
Corvus variegatus , teElricibus alarum cceruleis , lineis tranf- 
verfes albis nigrifque, 
!The variegated Corvus y with the covering feathers of the 
wings blue y variegated with black and white . 
This is a very beautiful fpecies, but it comes in no degree of competition with the 
former: the head is moderately large 5 the whole bird is about the fize of a common 
pigeon, but the head is confiderably bigger than in that bird : the eyes are not very 
large, but they have a very piercing and a very fprightly afpe<ft$ their iris is whitifh, 
the pupil black and large: the beak is large, ftrong, and black: the noftrils ftand to¬ 
ward the upper part of the membrane that inverts the bafe of the beak, and are 
oval and moderately large ; the tongue is black, and is bifid at the extremity. 
The whole plumage of this bird is very delicate, and the feathers have a kind of 
eredtnefs, which is not ufual in any of the fpecies: the head is of a very beautiful 
greyifh-brown, and there are two black fpots near the bafe of the lower chap of the 
mouth : the throat and the lower part of the belly are white; the fhoulders and the 
breaft are of a ferrugineous brown, but pale, and with fomewhat of a blurti of a pale 
red, or flefh colour, intermixed, which makes the whole very beautiful: the forepart 
of the head is paler than the hinder, and has fome longitudinal black rtreaks on it: 
the middle part of the back is of the fame reddifh brown with the fhoulders, but 
with fomething of bluenefs in it, which is not obfervable in that part 5 and the rump 
is white. 
The wings are moderately large; the long feathers in each are twenty: of thefe, 
the firft is not more than half as long as the fecond, and the fourth is the longeft of 
all: the firft of them is black throughout, except that the lower part is white, but this 
is the cafe only in that; the fix fucceeding ones are greyifh on the outer fide, and the 
three fucceeding ones have fome tinge of blue, and have feveral tranfverfe rtreaks of 
blue and of black on the lower part ; the others are in part black and in part white, 
and the fixteenth feather is elegantly variegated with tranfverfe lines of blue, black, 
and white ; the feventeenth is black, and has only a few fpots of blue; and the eigh¬ 
teenth is black, with only a little variegation, which is reddifh ; the nineteenth is red¬ 
difh, and it’s tip is black : the underfide of all thefe is brown, but that of the laft is 
of the fame colour with the upper fide : the firft fifteen of thefe long feathers are co¬ 
vered by a number of very beautiful fhort feathers, which are of the moft bright and 
fplendid blue, variegated with lines of black and white ; the furface of this part of the 
wing is fo glofty, and the colours are fo bright, that it has the appearance of enamel; 
the other covering feathers are black. 
The tail is moderately long, and is compofed of twelve feathers: the legs are fhort, 
and not very robuft ; they are of a dufky ferrugineous colour ; the claws are long, but 
not very fharpj that of the middle toe is longer than any of the others 5 the hinder one 
is as long as the outer one of the anterior three, and the claw of it is longer than that of 
any of the others: the outer toe is connected to about a third of it’s length to the un¬ 
der one. 
The male and female in this fpecies differ fo very little, either in fize or colouring, 
that it is hard to know them afunder. 
5 O 
It 
