148 AMERICAN RAVEN. 
unusual sound. On looking round, I saw about 
twenty of these birds perched on the top sprays 
of some white-thorn bushes. In their mode of 
darting off and returning again to the spray, 
they put me in mind of the shrike. I shot six 
of them, and could detect no material difference 
in plumage between males and females; in the 
stomachs of those I opened were the remains of 
some small coleopterous insects and a few haws. 
They left the next day, and I never saw them 
again. 
American Ravens (Corvus carnivorus, Bar- 
tram).—Ravens are distributed all over North- 
western America, in every part of British 
Columbia, from the Rocky Mountains to the sea- 
coast—on Vancouver Island, and all the others in 
the Gulf of Georgia. In the forests by the rivers 
and lakes, on the prairies or in the swamps, 
ravens are always in waiting, to demolish anything 
they can find dead, or to slay the weak and helpless. 
Their migration is simply from the inland, dur- 
ing winter, to the seacoast. A dozen or two 
remained at our headquarters at Colville during 
the winter, contrary to their habits—induced to 
linger in order to feed on the offal from our 
slaughtering-yard. In summer they are habitu- 
ally shy, and very watchful against any chance 
