CORVID.E — THE CROWS. 



241 



slaugliter-houses. In November, in the Baudera Hills, several came to liis 

 camp to feast on the offal of deer. Dr. Woodhouse also found them very 

 abundant in Texas, the Indian Territory, and New Mexico, and esijccially 

 so on the buffalo plains. In the Mexican Boundary Survey, Dr. Kennerly 

 observed these birds everywhere iu Northern Mexico, flocks of them lollow- 

 ing the train from point to point. They were not at all shy, but often came 

 into camp in search of food. 



Captain Blakistou, having enjoyed unusual opportunities for observing the 

 habits of the American Kaven during his residence in high northern regions, 

 characterizes the species as anything but solitary. During the day thev are 

 usually met with in pairs, except when drawn together in large numljers 

 around the carcass of a dead animal. At night, during the winter, they 

 repair to some chosen resting-place, usually a clump of trees on the edge of 

 a prairie, and there roost in one immense 1 jody. One of these roosting-places 

 was about a mile from Fort Carlton, and Captain Blakiston's attention was 

 first drawn to it l)y noticing that al>out sunset all the Havens, from all quar- 

 ters, were flying towards this point. Eeturning to the fort iu the evening by 

 that (quarter, he found a clump of asi)eu-trees, none of them more than 

 twenty-ti\-e feet high, filled with Kaveus, who, at his approach, took wing 

 and flew round and round. He also noted the wonderful regularity with 

 which they rej^aired to their roosting-place in the evening and left it again 

 in the morning, by pairs, on their day's hunt. They always left in the morn- 

 ing, within a minute or two of the same time, earlier and earlier as the days 

 grew longer, on cold or cloudy mornings a little later, usually just half an 

 hour before sunrise. In AprQ they all paired off, and tiieir roosting-place 

 became deserted. During an excursion about one hundred and fifty miles 

 southwest of Fort Carlton, Captain Blakistou found several nests of Havens 

 with eggs, one of wliich was in a small tree near a lake, and was not more 

 than fifteen feet abo\'e it. It contained six eggs, was about a foot in diame- 

 ter, composed of sticks, and was lined with buffalo-hair and pieces of scarlet 

 cloth, evidently picked up about an Indian camping-ground. 



Dr. Heermaun states tliat wliile in California he always fbuud the nests 

 of the Eaven placed high on bold precipitous cliffs, secure against danger ; 

 in the vast desolate plains of New Mexico he saw these birds building on 

 low trees, and even on cactus-jilants, less than thi'ee feet from the ground, 

 showing how much circumstances and localities affect the habits of birds 

 regarding incubation. 



A Raven, probably tliis species, is abundant on the plateaii of IMexico. 

 The Cerro Colorado, near Teliuacan, is the rendezvous of a large number of 

 these birds, where, according to Sumichrast, at tlie time of the flowering of 

 the mar/uc}/, they gather in great abundance, to feed on the blossoms of this 

 plant, which are their favorite food. 



Mr. Boardman writes me that he has several times collected Havens' eggs 

 at Grand Menan, but always found the nest a hard one to talce, as they 



VOL. 11. 31 



