148 AMERICAN RAVEN. 



unusual sound. On looking round, I saw about 

 twenty of these birds perched on the top sprays 

 of some white-thorn bushes. In their mode of 

 darting off and returning again to the spray, 

 they put me in mind of the shrike. I shot six 

 of them, and could detect no material difference 

 in plumage between males and females ; in the 

 stomachs of those I opened were the remains of 

 some small coleopterous insects and a few haws. 

 They left the next day, and I never saw them 



again. 



AMERICAN RAVENS (Corvus carnivorus, Bar- 

 tram). Ravens are distributed all over North- 

 western America, in every part of British 

 Columbia, from the Rocky Mountains to the sea- 

 coast on Vancouver Island, and all the others in 

 the Gulf of Georgia. In the forests by the rivers 

 and lakes, on the prairies or in the swamps, 

 ravens are always in waiting, to demolish anything 

 they can find dead, or to slay the weak and helpless. 

 Their migration is simply from the inland, dur- 

 ing winter, to the seacoast. A dozen or two 



O ' 



remained at oar headquarters at Colville during 

 the winter, contrary to their habits induced to 

 linger in order to feed on the offal from our 

 slaughtering-yard. In summer they are habitu- 

 ally shy, and very watchful against any chance 



