274 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



but little attention to human beings. They make themselves at home 

 about the Indian villages, where they are almost as tame as chickens 

 and hardly move out of the way of the children playing on the beaches. 



Mr. Pearse's notes contain several references to the behavior of these 

 crows. He has seen 12 crows "vigorously chasing a raven"; again he 

 has seen the two species feeding side by side, though the crows recog- 

 nized the "superiority of the raven and would not contest the feeding 

 grounds" ; crows feeding on berries hurried away when a raven came 

 into the bush. He has seen nesting crows drive away a bald eagle that 

 had settled on a tree nearby, making stoops at it, the eagle squealing 

 as though at least annoyed ; and he says that they will frequently attack 

 a flying eagle, if it comes near where they are feeding; sometimes the 

 eagle will turn at the crow, to strike it wdth its talons, which drives 

 away the latter. 



He tells of one of a pair of crows that had lost part of its beak, per- 

 haps in a trap; it was being fed by its mate, "which regurgitated the 

 food. The healthy bird was crooning to it and stroking it with its 

 beak, a really touching sight." 



One day, in July, he saw "two diving and swooping around in a stiff 

 breeze, stooping at each other and turning over, a kind of game of tag. 

 At times a flock will plane-dive down to the ground, and this usually 

 presages a change of weather, usually wind." 



Mr. Munro tells me that on four occasions in January and February 

 he has seen a heavy flight, totaling about 800 birds, passing over De- 

 parture Bay about dusk and apparently settling in their winter roost 

 in some thick woods. 



Voice. — Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says: "A trained ear can usually 

 detect the difference in their notes from those of the Western Crow; 

 they are usually slightly hoarser and lower in pitch but vary in pitch 

 and quality and are at times very close to the Western Crow's. In the 

 mating season they have a 'gargling' note similar to that of the Western 

 Crow." 



Mr. Bailey (1927) writes: "They are probably the best imitators of 

 their family in Alaska, and the variety of their notes is unusually large. 

 Their most characteristic one is noted when the old bird is feeling es- 

 pecially foolish, for they duck their heads toward their feet, and then 

 give an upward tug, at the same time emitting a sound like the pulling 

 of a cork from a bottle." 



R. H. Lawrence wrote to Major Bendire (1895) of a vocal perform- 

 ance that may have been part of a courtship display : "A flock of about 

 one hundred and twenty were noticed February 7, 1892; a few were 

 perched apart on a tree or snag, uttering strange sounds, like 'koo-wow, 



