286 SINGING BIRDS— OSCINES. 



Columbia, wliile the open plains offer an abundant supply of otber food. 

 Nor does tlie fish-eating race seem more degenerate in size on that account, 

 since the smallest specimens I have seen were collected by Mr. F. Grubcr 

 on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, about lat. 38° 30', one of tliem in 

 perfect condition and full grown, measuring only fifteen inches in lengtli 

 when fresh. Another, a male from San Diego, measured 17.50, so that the 

 coast birds and those from tlie North are actually the largest, the average 

 of Baird's caurinus, from Washington Territory, being 16.50 when fresh. 

 The largest Californian from Tulare Valley measured 18.30 dry ; one from 

 the Presidio a little less, and one from Fort Vancouver 17.00, all included 

 by Baird in C. Americanus, but smaller than the Eastern. 



In the southern half of California this crow is rarely seen on the sea- 

 beach, but prefers the inland districts, occasionally, however, coming to the 

 shores of bays to feed. 



They associate in large flocks during most of the year, feeding in com- 

 pany, and are even somewhat gregarious in the breeding-season, building in 

 close vicinity to each other, often several nests in a tree, unlike the Eastern 

 crows, whicli will not allow a strange pair in the neighljorhood of tlieir 

 nest. The places selected for building near San Diego were the groves of 

 evergreen oaks growing in ravines, and the nests were built from twelve to 

 forty feet above the ground. There were indeed but few other trees in the 

 lower country, except some few wiUows and sycamores, in wliich last they 

 might have obtained much higher positions for tlieir nests if desired. In the 

 North they often build in spruces, and Dr. Sucldey found one at the Dalles, 

 Oregon, in a dense willow thicket. 



The nest is strongly built of sticks, coarse on the outside, and becoming 

 more slender toward the inside, where they are mixed with roots, grass, 

 moss, horsehair, etc., to form a rather soft lining. The eggs, of which I have 

 only found four in a nest, are dull green of a dark shade, thickly spotted 

 and streaked with dark brown and olive. Size, 1.60 X 1.10. At San Diego 

 they laid al)0ut April 15th. 



Where unmolested these birds have not yet become so shy and cunning 

 as those of the older settled districts, but they soon learn the danger of 

 allowing a man witli a gun to come near them, and show all the cunning 

 characteristic of the tribe. They might, doubtless, be as easily tamed or 

 raised from the nest as other species, and probably taught as many tricks, 

 including the imitation of the human voice. They have not yet been found 

 very destructive in this country, there being little Indian corn raised, and 

 other crops are so prolific that the stealings of the crows are scarcely 

 noticed. Their destruction of immense numbers of grubs, grasshoppers, 

 and other noxious vermin counterbalances what little harm they may do. 

 They obtain much of their food about the ranches from the ofl'al of slaugli- 



