Mr. Elliott Coues on Picicorvus columbianus. 57 



claws (which, however, are not " raptorial " at all, as Wilson 

 hastily surmised), in which features I see an adaptation to cling- 

 ing on pine-cones, that would speedily be interfered with if the 

 bird spent much of its time on the ground. I may add here 

 that, when on the grouud, the bird does not hop like a Jay, but 

 walks erect, firmly and easily, like a Crow — a fact that may 

 have some weight in classification. 



The first bird of this kind I ever saw alive was brought to 

 me at Fort Whipple, in winter, by an old hunter, who had winged 

 it with a pistol-bullet as it came about his cabin forgetting its 

 natural shyness in the extreme of hunger. Notwithstanding that 

 one pinion had been shot away, it appeared " chipper and peart," 

 took kindly to bread and meat, and soon became quite tame and 

 amusing. Contrary to what I should have expected, it was 

 silent (except when handled, which it did not like), appeared to 

 be of a reflective and inquiring turn of mind, and, when not 

 meditating on the back of a chair, used to go about examining 

 the furniture with grave curiosity, yet evidently bent upon 

 preserving a nil admirari deportment. I came to like my 

 strange visitor — perhaps the first one ever entertained in a 

 civilized way — when it died, doubtless from the effects of its 

 wound, after a brief illness marked by complete anorexia and 

 rapid marasmus. 



How it may be during the breeding-season I do not know; 

 but at other times Clarke's Crow is .decidedly gregarious ; 

 you will be more likely to see fifty together than one alone ; 

 and sometimes the vagabond troops are still larger. Like- 

 wise it is one of the noisiest of birds ; a flock feeding or 

 amusing themselves in the top of a jiine tree will make more 

 noise than as many Jays, which is enough to say on this score. 

 The notes cannot be described; in fact they are not ''notes" 

 at all, the voice being a strident discord of prolonged screaming 

 that must be heard to be duly appreciated. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, the birds are as still as mice — for example, when they 

 are not assured, their position is perfectly safe. The approach 

 of a suspicious character, as the inevitable naturalist, or some 

 other equally obnoxious party, is very apt to silence the whole 

 flock, and send them trooping off together, unless, indeed, they 



