212 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Corvus corax principalis Ridgway 

 Northern Raven 



Plate 71 



Corvus corax principalis Ridgway. Manual N. A. Birds. 1887. 361 

 Corvus corax DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 134, fig. 51 

 Corvus corax principalis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 22S. No. 

 486a 

 corvus, Lat., crow; corax, Lat., and Gr., xopaij, raven; principalis, Lat., chief 



Description. Decidedly larger than the crow; bill much heavier and 

 the feathers of the throat long and pointed; color as in the crow. 



Length 22-26.5 inches; extent 46-53; bill about 3.05; wing 16. 5-1 8; 

 tail 9.9; tarsus 2.65. 



Range. The Northern raven breeds from northwestern Alaska, 

 northern Elsmere Land and northern Greenland south to Washington, 

 central Minnesota and the coast of New Jersey; in the mountains as far 

 as Georgia. In the eastern states it is uncommon in the cultivated districts. 

 In New York the species is confined to the western Adirondack region, 

 although stragglers are sometimes taken in various parts of the State, 

 as follows: Comae hill, Long Island, in 1836; Brooklyn, 1848; Mayville, 

 three seen in 1861 by A. E. Kibbe; Wolcott, 1875 (see Auburn List); 

 Lansingburgh, one seen in 1872 by F. S. Webster; Cayuga, 1880, one seen 

 by Foster Parker; Canandaigua lake, one shot about 1885 by " Quake " 

 Smith; Sandy Creek, about 1890, J. W. Soule; shore of Lake Ontario in 

 Monroe county, about 1885, taken by David Bruce; border of Schoharie 

 county, one seen by John Burroughs; Lake George, October 29, 1897, 

 specimen in the State Museum; Granville, a rare straggler, F. T. Pember; 

 Mt Marcy, October 23, 1875, several seen (see Colvin, seventh report 

 Adirondack Survey, page 96); Oneida lake, October 1878, J. P. Hutchins. 

 All these records are evidently of stragglers, usually seen in the fall or 

 winter. At the present time a few may be seen in the western Adirondack 

 region, especially in the northern portions of Hamilton and Herkimer 

 counties, the southern portion of St Lawrence county and the eastern 

 portion of Lewis county. In this part of the North Woods the Raven 



