232 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Sticks and twigs to finer materials. She added mud, strands of rope, 

 rags, corn husks, mats of dry grass, roots, moss and weed stems, and 

 strips of bark from various kinds of trees. The rim was nicely rounded 

 off with strips of grapevine bark. The interior of the deep wide cup 

 was tightly lined with inner bark fibers, pads of hair, fur, wool, and 

 green moss. It required approximately 12 days to complete the nest 

 after the first sticks had been placed. 



*Tf bad weather conditions prevailed, several days would elapse be- 

 fore the first egg was deposited, although in one nest an egg had been 

 laid in spite of the fact that the edge of the nest was encrusted in snow. 

 During fair warm weather eggs were found in the nest a day or two after 

 the nest had been completed." 



Although not mentioned by Dr. Dickey, it has been noted by many ob- 

 servers that both male and female take an active part in the building 

 of the nest as well as sharing in the incubation of the eggs. 



Eggs. — The number in a complete set of crow eggs is usually four 

 to six, but in some cases there are only three and in others as many as 

 eight or nine. Macoun (1909) reports an unusual set of ten eggs. In 

 the latter instances it is probable the large number of eggs are the product 

 of two birds, as it has been observed that two females in addition to the 

 male have shared a single nest. Bendire (1895) has given us an ex- 

 cellent description of the eggs of the crow based on a wide experience 

 and the study of large numbers of specimens. His account is as follows : 



"Crows' eggs are rather handsome, and vary greatly in shape, size, 

 color, and markings; the majority may be called ovate, but both short 

 and rounded ovates, and elliptical and elongated ovates are also found 

 in a good series. The ground-color varies from malachite and pale 

 bluish green to olive green, and occasionally to an olive buflf. The 

 markings usually consist of irregularly shaped blotches and spots of 

 different shades of browns and grays. In some specimens these are 

 large, and irregularly distributed over the egg, usually predominating 

 about the larger end, leaving the ground color clearly visible. In others 

 again the markings are fine, profuse, and evenly distributed, giving the 

 egg a uniform dark olive-green color throughout." 



Bendire gives the average measurements of 292 eggs in the United 

 States National Museum as 41.40 by 29.13 millimeters or about 1.63 by 

 1.15 inches. The largest egg of the series was 46.74 by 30.78 millimeters, 

 or 1.84 by 1.21 inches; the smallest 36.07 by 25.91 millimeters, or 1.42 

 by 1.02 inches. 



Sometimes eggs of abnormal size have been found. G. Ralph Meyer 

 collected a set of eggs in which one egg measured 2.00 by 1.25 (50.8 by 

 31.8 millimeters), much larger than the largest egg in the large National 



