3 io 
PERCHING BIRDS, 
environment. The raven is an early breeder, and the birds of the English 
fells annually repair their nests while snowdrifts are lying in deep folds on the 
mountain sides. It sometimes happens that a raven’s nest becomes swamped by 
rain and driving sleet to such a degree that the eggs are chilled and rendered useless. 
In the event of such a contingency arising, the breeding ravens retire to some other 
favourite haunt, in which the female lays a fresh complement of eggs. The latter 
are four or five in number, rarely six; and are usually of a bluish green colour, 
blotched and spotted with dark olive-brown, although a reddish variety is occasionally 
obtained. The raven performs valuable services as a scavenger, and the damage 
it does the game-preserver is infinitesimally small; but it must be confessed that 
WHITE-BELLIED CROW (J Bat. size). 
African Crows. 
shepherds have only too good reason to complain of the injuries inflicted upon 
ewes when dropping their lambs, for the raven readily attacks any defenceless 
animal such as a weak lamb or a feeble fawn. 
In Africa the genus is represented by the black African rook 
(C. capensis ); the white-necked raven (C. albicollis), which is 
brown and black with a conspicuous white collar; the thick-billed raven 
( C. crassirostris ); and the white-bellied crow ( C. scapulatus). This last is a 
handsome bird, easily recognised by its black and white or parti-coloured 
plumage. It obtains much of its food about the high roads, examining the 
droppings of the animals that pass by, and picking the carcases of such as perish 
on their journeys. It makes its nest in trees or in the recesses of rocks, and 
