HEREDITY 93 



The Corvidce, or crow family, do not present 

 such obvious vocal resemblances as do some other 

 races of birds mentioned in subsequent pages. Yet 

 it may be well to commence this theme with an order 

 in which a certain broad tone is widely prevalent. 



Birds of the crow family, as a rule, have little or 

 no song ; but some members of the family possess 

 considerable power of mimicry, though they do not 

 in a wild state utter sweet tones. The raven may 

 be placed at the head of the list, as showing in a 

 feral state the least indication of musical ability ; 

 and this absence of song is not strange in a bird 

 which, however imitative, lives in remote and infertile 

 places. The carrion crow utters the same kind of 

 cry as the raven, but at a higher pitch, and, like that 

 bird, is capable of being educated to the pro- 

 nunciation of words. The crow common in British 

 Columbia is smaller than Corvus corone, and utters 

 a similar but less harsh cry. The hooded crow is 

 said to have a " rather harsh sound resembling the 

 syllable craa'' (Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 

 532) ; and the authority who records it compares the 

 cry of the rook {ibid. p. 544) to the syllable khraa ; 

 hence we may conclude that the two cries are of 

 much the same intonation. The rook, when greatly 

 alarmed, utters a low croak ; so does the jackdaw when 



