Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The white-speckled raven, a colour aberration of the Faeroese Common Raven Corvus corax varius Brünnich, 1764, has occurred on the Faeroe Islands since at least the Middle Ages and was always prized by collectors. In the second half of the 19th century while the Faeroese raven population was suffering intense persecution, pied individuals were even more severely hunted, and were extinct by the early 20th century. Twenty-six specimens had been recorded so far in different museum collections, but a 27th has now come to light in the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo. The collector is unknown but given the collection date, 1846, it was probably an islander rather than a foreign collector.
Authors: Hein van Grouw, Lars Erik Johannessen
Institutions: Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
Language: English
Topic: Avian ecology and behavior
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4402134366