THE MEXICAN RAVEN. 



No. 2. 



MEXICAN RAVEN. 



A. O. V. \o. 486. Corvus corax sinuatus (W'agler). 



Synonyms. — American Ra\-e:n. Southern Raven. 



Description. — Like preceding but averaging smaller ; bill relatively smaller 

 and narrcjwer ; tarsus not so stout. Length up to 26 inches, but averaging less. 

 Culmen 2.85 (72). 



Recognition Marks. — As in preceding — distinguishable only by range. 



Nesting. — Xcst: placed uii ledge or in crannies of basalt cliffs, more rarely 

 in pine trees. 



General Range. — Western L'niled States chiefly west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains; in its northerly extension nearly coincident with the L'pper Sonoran life 

 zone, south to Honduras. 



Range in Washington. — May be arbitrarily defined as restricted to the 

 East-side, but common only on the treeless plains and in the I'lue Mountain 

 region. Resident. 



Authorities. — Coyiiis carnivorus Bart., Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. 

 R. R. Surv. Xll. pt. II. i860, p. 210. Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 

 p. 396 f. 



IT is mi mere associatimi nt ideas which has made the Ka\en the Ijinl of 

 ill omen. I-llack is his wing, and black is his heart, as well. While it may 

 Ije allowed that he works no- direct damage upon the human race, we cannot 

 but share in sympathy the laurden of the bird-world whicli regards him as the 

 bctc iioir. dialiiilical in cunning, patient as fate, and relentless in the hour of 

 opportunitw 



As I sit on an earl}- INIa}' morning liy the water's edge on a lonel}' island 

 in the Columbia Ri\'er, all nature seems harmoni(_ius and glad. The Meadow- 

 larks are ])ricking the atmosphere with goads of good cheer in the sage 

 behind ; the Dove is pledging his heart's afifection in the cottonwood hard by ; 

 the river is singing on the rapids : and my heart is won to follow on that 

 buoyant tide — when suddenly a mother Goose cries out in terror and I leap 

 to my feet to learn the cause. I have not long to wait. Like a death knell 

 comes the guttural croak iif the Ra\'en. He has spied upon her. learned her 

 secret, swept in when her precious eggs were unco\ered ; and he bears one off 

 in triumph, — a feast for his carrion brood, ^^'hep one has seen this sort of 

 thing a dozen times, and heard the wail inf the w ild things, the croak of the 

 Ra\'en comes to be fraught with menace, the veritable voice of doom. 



To be sure, the Raven is not really worse than his kin, but he is dis- 

 tinguished hv a bass voice: and does not the \illain in the play alwa^'s sing 

 bass? Somehow, one ne\'er Ijelieves the ill he hears of the soulful tenor, even 

 tho he sees him dO' it ; but beware of the Iiird or man who croaks at low C. 



