238 



ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



guisbed fVorn the American race in the same manner as are the Euro- 

 pean specimens, besides difiering in the wing formula, which is alike 

 in the American and the European forms. In all the specimens examined 

 by me the third primary was equal to or longer than the fifth, and never 

 shorter. 



Since the above was written 1 have learned that Dr. Dybowski has 

 named the bird from Bering Island Corvus corax behringianus. As the 

 name given by him has a priority of about two months it must stand, 

 although being rather unfitting, as the bird is more common on Copper 

 Island than on Bering Island. I see no reason for regarding it as only 

 a subspecies, as no iutergradation is known, or is likely to occur. 



List of specimens obtained. 



Xo. 92757.— Iris dark brown. Bill and feet black ; toes below yellowish gray. 



No. 92759. — Outstretched toes almost reach tip of wings. Caught in a trap set for foxes. 



No. 92758.— Testes swollen. Weight 5 pounds. 



No. 92760.— Weight, 4i pounds. 



The raven {^H-oron^^ of the natives) is a resident on both islands, but 

 is not numerous on either, although they are rather common near the 

 killing-grounds of the seal-rookeries during and after the sealing season, 

 but at that time all the ravens of the island are collected on these 

 places. During the summer and autumn they feed almost exclusively 

 upon the numberless carcasses of the slaughtered seals, fighting and 

 quarreling at that time with the stone foxes and the glaucous-winged 

 gulls. During the winter the supply of food is more scanty, and they 

 are, during the hard season, restricted to what the ocean throws upon 

 the beach, although of later years the introduction of Arvicola rutila 

 has added a new and welcome dish to their bill of fare. 



Early in the spring they commence building their nests in a hole, or a 

 crack of some steep and inaccessible rock, the pairs being either single 

 or in small colonies of three or four. 



