s far as
coloration goes, to be found amongst those of the Raven, are found
amongst the eggs of the present species, and _vice versa_; and for a
description of these it is only necessary to refer to the account of
the former species; but I may notice that amongst the eggs of _C.
macrorhynchus_ I have not yet noticed any so boldly blotched as is
occasionally the case with some of the eggs of the Raven, which remind
one not a little, so far as the character of the markings go, of eggs
of _Oedicnemus crepitans_ and _Esacus recurvirostris_. Like those
of the Raven the eggs exhibit little gloss, though here and there
a fairly glossy egg is met with. Eggs from various parts of the
Himalayas, of the plains of Upper India, of the hills and plains of
Southern India, do not differ in any respect. _Inter se_ the eggs from
each locality differ surprisingly in size, in tone of colour, and in
character of markings; but when you compare a dozen or twenty from
each locality, you find that these differences are purely individual
and in no degree referable to locality.

There are just as big eggs and just as small ones from Simla and
Kotegurh, from Cashmere, from Etawah, Bareilly, Futtehgurh, from
Kotagherry, and Conoor; all that one can possibly say is that perhaps
the Plains birds do on the _average_ lay a _shade larger_ eggs than
the Himalayan or Nilghiri ones.

Taking the eggs as a whole, I think that in size and shape they are
about intermediate between the eggs of the European Carrion-Crow and
Rook. But they vary, as I said, astonishingly in size, from 1.5 to
1.95 in length, and in breadth from 1.12 to 1.22, and I have one
perfectly spherical egg, a deformity of course, which measures 1.25 by
1.2.

The average of thirty Himalayan eggs is 1.73 by 1.18, of twenty Plains
eggs 1.74 by 1.2, and of fifteen Nilghiri eggs 1.7 by 1.18. I would
venture to predict that with fifty of each, there would not be a
hundredth of an inch between their averages.

7. Corvus splendens, Vieill. _The Indian House-Crow_.

Corvus splendens, _Vieill. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 298.
Corvus impudicus, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 663.

Throughout India and Upper Burma the Common Crow resides and breeds,
not ascending the hills either in Southern or Northern India to any
great elevation, but breeding up to 4000 feet in the Himalayas.

The breeding-season _par excellence_ is June and July, but occasional
nests will be found earlier even in Upper