110 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Vol. IV, Zoology and Botany, in the Re- 

 port on the Birds of Ohio Dr. Wheaton 

 records the Prairie Horned Lark as 

 breeding near Cleveland, O. 



This so far as I am aware is the only 

 record of this species as an Ohio resi- 

 dent. The present locality, Ellsworth, 

 Mahoning Co., is about fifty miles 

 southeast of Cleveland. 



Ernest W. Vickeks. 



The Mexica-n Raven in California. 



The Mexican Raven, Corvtis corax 

 simmtus, is similar to, although consid- 

 erably lai'ger than the common Crow 

 and is plentiful throughout a certain 

 portion of California. 



While in the air it frequently sails 

 around with its wings outspread, as 

 smoothly and as silently as though sus- 

 pended by some invisible cord. Its 

 cry which it utters repeatedly while on 

 the wing is much more guttural than 

 that of the Crow, and closely resembles 

 the croaking of a frog. 



In June of 1892 while visiting friends 

 in San Jacinto. Calif. I saw my first 

 pair of these birds sailing a cliff on the 

 hillside. In 1894 having removed to 

 San Luis, Obisho County, Calif. I fre- 

 quently saw these birds hovering 

 around Morro Rock, a huge mass of 

 stone rising almost perpendicularly out 

 of the ocean to the height of several 

 hundred feet and separated from the 

 mainland by a nai-row channel of 

 water. One of the inhabitants of Mor- 

 ro told me he had frequently noticed 

 the Ravens carrying large sticks to the 

 rock. Here also nested several spe- 

 cie? of seabirds but I was compelled 

 to i-elinquish all hope of obtaining eggs 

 as the cliffs were practically inaccess- 

 ible. 



At Avila Beach about twenty miles 

 from Morro on the high bluffs back of 

 the ocean, there was a nest of sticks 

 "which one of the inhabitants of the 

 town said had been occupied by a pair 



of these birds the year before but no- 

 signs of the birds had been seen since. 



In the fall of last year having remov- 

 ed to Whittier, Los Angeles County,^ 

 Calif. I was glad to hear a rancher 

 who owned a large corn-field say that 

 a pair of Ravens frequently came down 

 from the neighboring hills and feasted 

 on his corn. I made up my mind on 

 the spot that if Raven's eggs were to 

 be obtained in the Puente Hills I would 

 add some to my collection. One of the 

 boys of Whittier told me one day in 

 February that he knew of a nest of 

 these birds which he and his compan- 

 ions had tried in vain to reach the year 

 before. I prevailed upon him to take 

 me to the cliff it was in and there sure 

 enough in a small cavity near ' the cen- 

 ter of the cliff which was about sixty 

 feet in height, could be seen the outer 

 edge of a large nest of sticks. The 

 birds were nowhere in sight but on re- 

 turning about a week later I saw one 

 of them fly from a holly bush near by 

 and alight on the cliff near the nest. 



On the 14th of March I returned to 

 the nest accompanied by a friend each 

 of us cai'rying forty feet of stout rope. 

 Having joined this together we made 

 it secure to the root of a tree just above 

 the nest. These cliffs are composed of 

 dirt and loose rocks and the utmost 

 care must be taken to prevent the -rope 

 from dislodging these and bringing 

 them down about the ears of the per- 

 son on the rope. 



At first I attempted to ascend from 

 the bottom but this proved too difficult 

 and I at last gave it up. I then went 

 to the top and climbed down the rope 

 until I could sit in the entrance of the 

 cavity where the nest was. There to 

 my great joy I perceived five hand- 

 some eggs reclining snugly in their bed 

 of sheep's wool. The nest was a very 

 large structure made of sticks and 

 measuring two feet and a half across 

 and must have been occupied for several 

 yeai's. The cavity which measured 



