History of the extant museum specimens of the Faroese white-speckled raven

Abstract

The white-speckled raven, a colour aberration of the Faroese raven Corvus corax varius Brünnich, 1764 , has occurred on the Faroe Islands since at least the Middle Ages, and was always prized by collectors. In the second half of the nineteenth century while the Faroese raven population as a whole was suffering intense persecution, pied individuals were even more severely hunted, and were extinct by the beginning of the twentieth century. Details of twenty six specimens found in museum collections are given in this paper, as well as an overview of collectors on the Faroes who may have collected specimens.