CORVID^ — THE CROWS. 241 



slaughter-houses. In November, in the Bauclera Hills, several came to his 

 camp to least on the offal of deer. Dr. Woodhouse also found them very- 

 abundant in Texas, the Indian Territory, and New Mexico, and especially 

 so on the buffalo plains. In the Mexican Boundary Survey, Dr. Kennerly 

 observed these birds everywhere in Northern Mexico, flocks of them follow- 

 ing the train from point to point. They were not at all shy, but often came 

 into camp in search of food. 



Captain Blakiston, having enjoyed unusual opportunities for ol)serving the 

 habits of the American Eaven during his residence in high northern regions, 

 characterizes the species as anything but solitary. During tlie day they are 

 usually met with in pairs, except when drawn together in large numbers 

 around the carcass of a dead animal. At niglit, during the winter, they 

 repair to some chosen resting-place, usually a clump of trees on the edge of 

 a prairie, and there roost in one immense body. One of these roosting-places 

 was about a mile from Fort Carlton, and Captain Blakiston's attention was 

 first drawn to it by noticing that about sunset all the Eavens, from all quar- 

 ters, were flying towards this point. Eeturning to the fort in the evenuig by 

 that quarter, he found a clump of aspen-trees, none of them more than 

 twenty-five feet high, filled with Eavens, who, at his approach, took wing 

 and flew round and round. He also noted the wonderful regularity with 

 which they repaired to their roosting-place in the evening and left it again 

 in the morning, by pairs, on their day's hunt. They always left in the morn- 

 ing, within a minute or two of the same time, earlier and earlier as the days 

 grew longer, on cold or cloudy mornings a little later, usually just half an 

 hour before sunrise. In April they all paired off, and their roosting-place 

 became deserted. During an excursion about one hundred and fifty miles 

 southwest of Fort Carlton, Captain Blakiston found several nests of Eavens 

 with eggs, one of which was in a small tree near a lake, and was not more 

 than fifteen feet above it. It contained six eggs, was about a foot in diame- 

 ter, composed of sticks, and was lined with buffalo-hair and pieces of scarlet 

 cloth, evidently picked up about an Indian camping-ground. 



Dr. Heermann states that while in California lie always found the nests 

 of the Eaven placed high on bold precipitous cliffs, secure against danger ; 

 in the vast desolate plains of New Mexico he saw these birds building on 

 low trees, and even on cactus-plants, less than three feet from tlie ground, 

 showing how much circumstances and localities affect the habits of birds 

 regarding incubation. 



A Eaven, probably this species, is abundant on the plateau of Mexico. 

 The Cerro Colorado, near Tehuacan, is the rendezvous of a large number of 

 these birds, where, according to Sumichrast, at the time of the flowering of 

 the maguey, they gather in great abundance, to feed on the blossoms of this 

 plant, which are their favorite food. 



Mr. Boardman writes me that he has several times collected Eavens' eggs 

 at Grand Menan, but always found the nest a hard one to take, as they 



VOL. II. 31 



