70 



PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 12 



U. S. Nat. Mus., XXII, 1900, p. 231. (/,?) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 3, 1902, p. 46. 



(13) Grinnell and Daggett, Auk, xx, 1903, pp. 33, 37. (/'/) Breninger, Auk, xxi, 1904, 



p. 219. (15) Richardson, Condor, x, 1908, p. 67. (Id) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 84. 



(/7) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 127. (IS) Grinnell, Condor, x. 1908, p. 130. (1!)) 



Wright, Condor, xi, 1909, p. 100. (20) Osburn, Condor, xi, 1911, p. 137. (21) Burt, 



Condor, xm, 1911, p. 167. (22) Howell and van Rosseni, Condor, xiii, 1911, p. 210. 



(23) Willett, Pac. Coast Avif., 7, 1912, p. 68. (2'/) Wright and Snyder, Condor, xv, 



1913, p. 91. (?.)) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, p. 99. 

 Raven (2(>) Beck, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, i, 1899, p. 86. (27) Willett, Condor, xii, 1910, 



p. 172. 

 Corvus corax clarionensis (28) Ridgway, Birds North & Mid. Am., iii, 1904, p. 264. (2.0) 



Mearns, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., lvi, 1907, p. 141. 



Common resident. In regjard to the status of the raven of the islands. T 

 must confess to a feeling of uncertainty. Ridgway (2S) identifies birds from 

 Clemente and Catalina as C. c. clarionensis, stating that although not quite as 

 small as the latter in its typical form, excepting the tarsus, they are nevertheless 

 nearer to it than they are to the mainland birds. Clarionensis is similar to sinu- 

 atus but smaller, especially the bill, and was described from a single specimen 

 (Rothschild & Ilartert, Novit. Zool., ix. 1902. p. 881.). The type may have been 

 merely a particularly small specimen from the locality where it Avas secured. At 

 any rate, all the island specimens examined average well below the measure- 

 ments for sinuatus, as given by Ridgway (38). Three skins from my collection, 

 compare wath Rothschild's type from Clarion Island, Mexico, as follows^ 



Locality Wingr Tail Culmen Tarsus Toe' Date Sex 



Catalina Id 371 217 65 67 42 .5-25-08 9 



Catalina Id 370 210 68 70 46 2-11-10 5 



Catalina Id 365 216 65 69 42 2-17-10 $ 



Clarion Id 395 ... 64 70 . . $ 



'Middle toe without claw. 



On the Coronados there are at least two resident pairs, one breeding on the 

 sandstone cliffs on south island, and the other on the west end of the same. On 

 San Clemente, G. F. Breninger (11) remarks that during February, 1903, he saw 

 thirty-eight at one time, and that there were "seven nests within a hundred 

 yards". Although still decidedly common, they do not uom' occur there in such 

 great numbers, for they are persistently poisoned by the sheepmen, who assert 

 that they are in the habit of pecking out the eyes of very young lambs. They are 

 quite common on San Nicolas Island. 



At Catalina there is always a flock of these birds in the vicinity of the garb- 

 age dump near Avalon. ^lany of them breed in the pockets of the nearby cliffs, 

 but the birds are so wary that it is no easy matter to locate the nests. I have also 

 found many old nests in trees in different parts of the island. In such a situa- 

 tion C. ?I. Richardson (15) took a set of five fresh and one slightly addled egg, 

 March 19, 1905. 



Two or three pairs breed on the cliffs of Santa Barbara Island, where J. 

 Grinnell (8) states that they evidently subsist on the eggs and young of the sea 

 birds which nest so numerously in that locality. On Anacajm, II. C. Burt (21) 

 found a nest ready for eggs Mareli 17, 1911, and is sui-e tliat there was only one 



