216 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the first 10 miles it was covered with a scanty growth of mesquite, 

 creosote bushes, yuccas, and various cacti, typical of the arid plains 

 of that region; but, as we drew near the mountains, approaching 4,0(X) 

 feet in altitude, the plain gradually changed to an open grassy prairie, 

 broken only by the rows of scattered trees that grew along the washes 

 extending outward from the canyons and by an occasional solitary mes- 

 quite of medium size. On the grassy prairie horned larks, meadow- 

 larks, lark buntings, and lark sparrows were common; and everywhere 

 the white-necked ravens were in evidence, and their bulky nests were 

 conspicuous even in the most distant trees. Such an environment as 

 this seems to be the typical habitat of this raven in other portions of 

 its range. 



Courtship. — The springtime activities of this raven are thus described 

 by Herbert Brandt (1940) as observed by him in Texas: "During early 

 April the raven begins in the broad mesquite area to make this his 

 bridal bower, to engage in his courtship, and to select the site of his 

 future home. The building process is carried on leisurely because at 

 that season there are many social affairs and quick nest-building is un- 

 necessary since egg-laying is a May urge. It is then that the com- 

 munity takes to the sky, and the male especially is wont to perform in 

 the air — soaring, side-slipping, wheeling, and tumbling, thus distinguish- 

 ing himself as an aerialist extraordinary. At that time his snowy-lined 

 neck-piece becomes so enlarged that the feathers stand straight out 

 like a fluffy boa, while those on his chin upturn at an acute angle, and 

 the over-weening, black-bewhiskered rogue is then the picture, to his 

 ebony admirer, no doubt, of a handsome, chivalrous swain." 



Nesting. — We found it a simple matter to locate the nests of the 

 white-necked raven on the open plains of southern Arizona as they 

 were usually in solitary trees and conspicuous at a long distance. One 

 of our nests was in a large sycamore along a wash, 30 feet from the 

 ground. Another was 30 feet from the ground in an ash on the open 

 plain. The other five nests examined were all in small mesquites on 

 the open plain, 9 or 10 feet from the ground. Frank Willard's notes 

 for the same region record one nest 40 feet up in a sycamore, one 10 

 feet up in a willow, and one 12 feet from the ground in a mesquite in 

 a wash. 



Major Bendire (1895) says that "the favorite nesting sites in south- 

 ern Arizona are low, scrubby mesquite trees, next oak, ash, desert 

 willow, and yucca, and in southern and western Texas ebony and hack- 

 berry bushes are likewise not infrequently used for this purpose. 



"The nest? are usually poorly constructed affairs, and are a trifle 

 larger than those of the common Crow. Outwardly they are mainly 



