58 Mr. Elliott Coues on Picicorvus columbianus. 



are frightened enough to disperse without thinking of each 

 other. This shyness is a marked trait : hardly any of our 

 birds (certainly none of the smaller kinds) are more difficult 

 to secure under ordinary circumstances. I would as soon try 

 to steal upon a Common Crow that had observed me as at- 

 tempt the same with one of Clarke's kind ; and moreover 

 they keep on the tops of trees so high that small shot may 

 fail to bring them down. It is best, after a flock is once 

 alarmed and dispersed, to keep perfectly still for a while, and 

 then skulk cautiously along, with a sharp eye for the tree-tops, 

 where most likely some that stayed behind, hoping for conceal- 

 ment in the thick foliage, will be noticed hopping about after 

 their first alarm. Occasionally a different and easier way is 

 open ; for these Crows, like the Long-crested and other Jays, 

 sometimes pitch, en masse, into a thick tree, and sit motion- 

 less, however nearly approached. Under these circumstances 

 several may be procured in rapid succession before the fiock 

 starts off again. This is something like what has been ob- 

 served with certain Grouse and Ptarmigan. 



darkens Crow has two different modes of flight — one for long 

 stretches, the other for short reaches. When on a journey, it 

 flies with some rapidity, in a perfectly straight steady course, 

 with regular vigorous wing-beats, much like Maximilian's Jay 

 under the same circumstances. Its other flight, as when it 

 swings itself from tree to tree, is swifter and undulating ; the 

 wings are alternately spread and nearly closed, and the bird 

 then rises and falls like a Woodpecker. It has also other 

 traits, difficult to specify, but readily observable, that strongly 

 remind one of a Woodpecker; so that whether Bonaparte made 

 his genus Picicorvus from Picus or Pica, in neither case was 

 he far wrong. 



I know nothing of the mode of propagation of this bird 

 from personal observation ; and until very recently its nest 

 and eggs had not been brought to the notice of naturalists. 

 But the desired information in this matter has been happily 

 supplied by Mr. Lord, who found the birds breeding, and 

 published the first, and, so far as I know, the only account that 

 has appeared. I have not his notice at hand for reference ; 



