566 



U. S. p. R. R, EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



white for about their basal half. The feathers of the head are plumbeous at the base ; the 

 greatest intensity of white is on the lower part of the neck; the color fades out on the back and 

 belly into plumbeous. In no other North American crow is there any approach to this cottony 

 whiteness. 



This character, with its smaller size, will at once serve to distinguish this species from any 

 other ravens in the United States. 



As already stated. No. 10300 is rather larger than skins from Texas, the largest of which 

 (4995) measures a little less in the body; the bill, too, is smaller, measuring 2.20 inches from 

 the rictus. The others are all decidedly smaller. 



The Corvus jamaicensis of Gmelin is said to have the downy portion of the feathers white. 

 The size is much less, however; the measurements, as given by Gosse, being: Length, 16.50; 

 extent, 28; wing, 9.50; tail, 5.T5 ; rictus, 2; tarsus, 2; middle toe, 1.50. Bonaparte, 

 in notes on Delattre's Collection, page 7, says that C. leucognaphalus of Vieillot likewise has 

 white down ; but that the skin is naked at the angle of the bill, and the nostrils but little 

 covered, very different in this from 0. cryptoleucus. 



List of specimens. 



COEVUS AMERICANUS, And. 



Common Crow. 



Corvus corone, Wilson, Am. Cm. IV, 1811, 79 ; pi. xxv, f 3.— Bon. Obs. Wih. 1824, No. 37.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 56.— 



Rich. P. B. Am. II, 1831, 291.— Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 209. Not Corvus corone of Linn. 

 Corvus amerkanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 317 : V, 477 ; pi. 156.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 150.— Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 

 87 ; pi. 225.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 385.— Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840, 221.— 

 Maxim. Reise, I, 1839, 140.— Newberry, ZooI. Cal. & Or. Route, P. R. R. Rep. VI, iv, 1857, 82. 



Sp. Ch. — Fourth quill longest ; second shorter than sixth ; first shorter than ninth. Glossy black with violet reflections, even 

 on the belly. Length, 19 lo 20 inches ; wing, 13 to 13.50 ; tail about 8. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw. 

 Hob. — North America to the Missouri region ; also on the coast of California. (Not found on the High Central Plains.') 



(4538 (J Washington, D. C.) The bill of this species is considerably narrower than high 

 or much compressed. It is gently curved from the very base ; rather more rapidly towards the 

 tip. The incumbent feathers of the nostril reach half the distance from the base of the bill to 

 the end of the lower jaw, and not quite half way to that of the upper. 



The tarsus has eight scutellae anteriorly, and is rather longer than the middle toe and claw ; 

 the lateral toes are very nearly equal ; the inner claw the larger, and reaching to the base of 

 the middle claw. 



The webs of the throat feathers are a little loose, but lie quite smoothly, without the pointed 

 lanceolate character seen in the ravens. 



