256 NiiKTll AMKiMCAX JUHDS. 



Sp. Char. Tail rounded or moderately graduated, the closed wings reaching nearly to 

 its tip. Fourth quill longest; second considerably shorter than the sixth. General color 

 bluish-ash, changing on the nasal feathers, the foi-ehead, sides of head (especially around 

 the eye), and chin, to white. The wings, including their inner surface, greenish-black, 

 the secondaries and tertials, except the innermost, broadly tipped with white; tail white, 

 the inner web of the fifth feather and tlie whole of the sixth, with the upper tail-covert«, 

 greenish-black. The axillars plumljeous-black. Bill and feet black. Young similar in 

 color, without additional markings of any kind. The gonys, however, convex, an<l the 

 bill generally more like that of the Jays. Length of male (fresh), l'J.(K); wing, 7.00; tail, 

 4.30; tarsus, 1.20. 



IIab. From Rocky Mountains to Pacific. East to Fort Kearney, north to Sitka, 

 south to Arizona. 



Ha KITS. Clarke's Crow was lirst iiiot with by the i)arties composing the 

 celebrateil e.xplorino- party to the Kocky ]\Iouiitains under the direction of 

 Lewis and Clarke. It was described by Wilson in ISll, who was in- 

 formed bv iiidividiials belonging to the expedition that these birds were 

 found inhabiting the shores of the Columbia and tlie adjacent country in 

 great numbers, frequenting the rivers and sea-shore, and that it seemed to 

 have all the noi,sy and gregarious habits of the common Crow of Europe. 



In his account of this species, Mr. Nnttall states that during his journey 

 westward in the month of July, he first observed indi\-iduals of this bird in 

 a small gTove of pines on the borders of Bear River, near where it falls into 

 Lake Timpanagos. This was at a height of about seven thousand feet 

 above the sea level, and in the 42d parallel. Their habits appeared to him 

 to correspond with tliose of the Nutcrackers of Euro])e. 



He afterwards saw a considerable flock of the young birds early in .Vu- 

 gust, in a lofty ravine near the Three Buttes, a remarkable isolated mountain 

 group about, i'orty miles west of the Lewis River. They appeared somewhat 

 shy, and were scattered through a grove of asj^ens, flying, with a slight 

 chatter, from the tops of bushes and trees, to the ground. He was of the 

 opinion that this species ne^'er descends Ijelow the mountain plains, but that 

 it has a constant predilection for the pine forests. 



Mr. Townsend afterwards found this species abundant on the Blue I\Ioun- 

 tains of Oregon. He describes its flight as very unlike that of a Crow, 

 being performed in jerks, in the manner of a Woodpecker. At times, when 

 sitting, it is said to keep up a constant scream, in a very harsh and grating 

 voice, and in an unvaried and prolonged tone. He states that it breeds in 

 very high pine-trees, and that he did not meet with it within five hundred 

 miles of the Columbia River. 



Mr. Ridgway found this species one of the most abtmdant birds of the 

 pine forests of the Sierra Nevada. East of this range it was also met with, 

 though only in smaller nundiers, in the cedar and piiion woods of the East 

 Humboldt Mountains. He adds that it is a bird so curiously striking as 

 at (Uice to attract attention. It bears but very little resemblance to any 

 bird of its family, and in its general appearance, flight, and notes approaches 



