Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/67

Rh Description. Similar to the Indian House-Crow, but with the dark parts shading into the lighter, which are ill-defined and a blackish grey.

Distribution. Burma, Siam, Yunnan, Cochin China and the north of the Malay Peninsula. Its southern limit is not known, but it extends to villages some way south of Mergui.

Birds from Assam, N. Chin Hills and N. Arrakan are somewhat intermediate as would be expected, but are nearer splendens than insolens. Wickham reports that he found the Common Crow at Sandoway to be splendens and not the Burmese form.

Nidification. Indistinguishable from that of splendens. One hundred eggs average 35·1 x 26·1 mm.

Habits. In Burma this race takes the place of the Indian bird in every way, and is its equal in familiar insolence and crafty care for its own safety.


 * Corvus splendens protegatus Madar., Orn. Monatsb., xii, p. 195 (1904) (Colombo).


 * Corvus splendens. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 20.

Vernacular names. Manchi Kaki (Tel.); Nalla Kaki (Tam.); Karari-Kaki, Kakum (Ceylon); Greya (Portuguese in Ceylon).

Description. Very similar to insolens, but the light parts are not quite so dark as in that race and are more easily defined from the black.

Colours of soft parts as in splendens.

Measurements. A rather smaller bird than splendens; wing generally between 220 and 250 mm.; other parts in proportion.

Distribution. Ceylon only. Specimens from the extreme south of Travancore are very dark compared with Northern Indian birds, but are nearer to those than to the small dark Ceylon subspecies.

Nidification. One hundred eggs collected by Messrs. W. E. Wait and W. W. A. Phillips average 34·8 x 25·6 mm., and are not distinguishable in colour from those of other races.

Habits. Though neither so numerous nor so ubiquitous in Ceylon as its confrères in other parts, there is no difference to be recorded in their habits.