Pied raven
Pied raven | |
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Pied raven Zoologisk Museum, Copenhagen
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | |
Genus: | |
Species: | C.c.varius
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Subspecies: | C. corax varius
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(unranked): | †Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus
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The pied raven (Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus) is an extinct
History
The pied raven received binomial names such as Corvus leucophaeus (by Vieillot, 1817) and Corvus leucomelas (by Wagler, 1827). It is currently referred to as Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus.
Description
In modern
The first record of the pied raven seems to be in the pre-1500 kvæði Fuglakvæði eldra ("The elder ballad of birds") which mentions 40 local species, including the great auk. Later, the pied raven is mentioned in the reports of Lucas Debes (1673[6]) and Jens Christian Svabo (1781/82[7]). Carl Julian von Graba in 1828[8] speaks of ten individuals he saw himself and states that these birds, while less numerous than the black morph, were quite common.
Díðrikur á Skarvanesi, the Faroe painter, painted the Fuglar series, a number of portrayal of birds. On his 18 fuglar ("18 birds"), the animal in the lower right corner can be identified as a pied raven. The painting is currently on display in the Listaskálin museum of Faroe art in Tórshavn.[9]
Extinction
As exemplified by Skarvanesi's painting, which obviously was done from stuffed birds, the pied raven was an object of interest to collectors. During the nineteenth century, the pied birds were selectively shot because they could fetch high prices; the sýslumaður (sheriff) of Streymoy, Hans Christopher Müller once paid two Danish rigsdaler for a stuffed specimen from Nólsoy. Such sums, a healthy amount of money for the impoverished Faroe farmers, made shooting a pied raven a profitable enterprise. Additionally, ravens in general were hunted as pests. In the mid-eighteenth century, every Faroe male of hunting age was ordered by royal decree (see Naebbetold) to shoot at least one raven or two other predatory birds per year or be fined four skillings. The last confirmed pied raven was shot on November 2, 1902, on Mykines. Subsequently, there were a few reported sightings of white ravens: in the autumn of 1916 on Velbastaður and Koltur, in the winter of 1947 on Nólsoy and again sighted the next year, and in the spring of 1965 on Sandvík.[3] Because none of these sight records mentioned the unique black-and-white pattern and a small number of diluted, all-whitish ravens have been observed in recent decades in the Faroe Islands, none of these are officially recognised as pied ravens. Consequently, 1902 is generally considered as the year of extinction for the pied raven.[3]
The pied raven, being a colour variation, likely only differed in one or very few
Today, 16 museum specimens of the pied raven are known: six in the
References
- ^ Nomenclature of morphs - variants and forms - is unregulated by the ICZN. Arguably, the pied raven could be considered a f. loc. (local form)
- S2CID 85886338.
- ^ a b c d van Grouw, Hein. "Some black-and-white facts about the Faeroese white-speckled Common Raven Corvus corax varius" (PDF). British Ornithologists' Club. 134 (1): 4–13.
- ^ a b "Liste over Færøernes fugle" (PDF). Dansk Ornitologisk Forening. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
- S2CID 43875817.
- OCLC 1255465895.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ The Zoologist. United Kingdom. 1872. p. 3220.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 3-926099-26-7.
- ^ QODIO. "Collection". Listasavn Føroya. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
- S2CID 43875817.
- S2CID 85886338.