486 CORVIDZ. 
Fam. CORVIDA*. 
Subfam. COR VINE. 
Ale elongate, acute, cauda plerumque brevis. 
CORVUS. 
Corvus, Linnzus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766); Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 2323 
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iu. p. 18. 
So far as America is concerned Corvus is a Nearctic genus, well represented by 
several species in North America, of which at least three are found within our limits, | 
viz. :—the Raven (C. coraz) as far south as Honduras; the peculiar Mexican C. mexicanus, 
whose range seems restricted to a limited district in Western Mexico; and C. crypto- 
leucus, which occurs in the northern frontier States of Mexico. Two of these, viz. 
C. coraz and C. cryptoleucus, are typical species of Corvus, whilst C. mexicanus belongs 
to the section Corone, which Mr. Sharpe treats as a separate genus. 
Corvus has been so often characterized that it seems superfluous to do so here; but 
we may remark that we use the name in the wide sense as employed by Messrs. Baird, 
Brewer, and Ridgway, keeping the Ravens, with their long lanceolate, narrow throat- 
feathers, and the Crows, in which these feathers are of normal shape, under one generic 
name. Greater diversity of form is found in members of this section of the family in 
other parts of the world than in America, and these have been treated of by Mr. Sharpe, 
who has given an elaborate key of the genera. This key strikes us as rather artificial 
in some respects, bringing into proximity forms not really by any means related. 
1. Corvus corax. 
Corvus coraz, Linn. Syst. Nat.i. p. 155*; Coues, B. N. W. p. 204°; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 
ill. p. 14°. 
Corvus carnivorus, Bartr. Trav. E. Florida, p. 290*; Scl. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 252°; Dresser, Ibis, 
1865, p. 494°; Dugés, La Nat. 1. p. 1897, 
Corvus corax, var. carnivorus, Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 234°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. 
Soc. N. H. i. p. 283°; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 25”. 
Corvus sinuatus, Wag). Isis, 1829, p. 748”. 
Corvus corax sinuatus, Check-List N. Am. B. p. 245%; Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p. 153". 
Corvus cacalotl, Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 527"; Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 115%; Consp. Av. i. p. 8877"; 
Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 21°"; 1860, p. 84°; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 112’°; Sumichrast, 
Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 553”. 
Corvus nobilis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 79*'; Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 386”. 
Nitente purpureo niger, unicolor ; plumis ad basin griseis; gule plumis lanceolatis elongatis; rostro et pedibus 
* We are largely indebted, in writing on this family, to Mr. Sharpe’s ‘ Catalogue of the Birds of the British 
Museum,’ vol. iii., wherein the Corvide of the world are treated of. 
