WESTERN CROW 263 



Dawson (1923) says: "The crow in California is no such constant 

 factor of bird life as he is in the East. He is, instead, very local and 

 sharply restricted in his distribution, so that to a traveller the appear- 

 ance of Crows is rather a novelty, something to be jotted down in the 

 field-book; and Crow country can scarcely comprise more than a 

 twentieth part of the total area of the State." 



Nesting. — About Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, we found a few pairs of 

 crows nesting in the small willows; seven nests were recorded in my 

 notes during the latter half of June, all of whic]i contained young. I 

 found crows nesting at two quite different localities in California. 

 On April 10, 1929, in San Diego County, while exploring a long row 

 of sycamores along the banks of a dry stream, I saw a number of crows* 

 nests and many of the birds. The nests were all well up near the tops 

 of rather large sycamores; many of them were apparently occupied, 

 as the birds were very solicitous; but, as the trees were hard to climb 

 and as I did not flush any birds off any of the nests, I did not disturb 

 them. Again, in Ventura County, on April 27, M. C. Badger and I 

 found crows very common and noisy in a large tract of small cotton- 

 woods and willows along the Santa Qara River; we saw a number of 

 nests, mostly in small live cottonwoods, but some in dead cottonwoods 

 or in willows and 15 to 20 feet from the ground; those that we ex- 

 amined were empty. They did not differ materially from other crows' 

 nests. 



It seems to be characteristic of the western crow to build its nest at 

 low elevations, as well as in groups or colonies; small trees or bushes 

 seein to be satisfactory as nesting sites, and nests have been found 

 even on the ground. Major Bendire (1895) says that at Fort Lapwai, 

 Idaho, he "occasionally found them breeding in what might be called 

 small colonies, and this was not due to scarcity of timber for nesting 

 purposes; in fact, I once saw here three occupied nests in a single small 

 birch tree, where a number of good-sized cottonwood trees were to be 

 found close by and equally suitable. * * ♦ Cottonwoods, junipers, and 

 willows are most frequently used. Nests are usually placed at heights 

 varying from 20 to 60 feet; but I have found some barely 6 feet from 

 the ground, and in many localities in the West they are rarely placed 

 over 20 feet up. Here also they are said to occasionally nest on the 

 ground, but I have never observed this personally." 



Capt. L. R. Wolfe (1931), however, did find a nest on the ground in 

 Albany County, Wyo., and published a photograph of it. "It was in 

 the short grass, on flat, open prairie. The nest was placed in a de- 

 pression which at one time might have been the entrance of a badger 

 hole. The depression was such that the rim of the nest was just level 



