256 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sp. Char. Tail rounded or moderately graduated, the closed wings reaching nearly to 

 its tip. Fourth quill longest ; second considerably shorter than the sixth. General color 

 bluish-ash, changing on the nasal feathers, the forehead, sides of head (especially around 

 the eye), and chin, to white. The wings, including their inner surface, greenish-black, 

 the secondaries and tertials, except the innermost, broadly tipped with white ; tail white, 

 the inner web of the fifth feather and the whole of the sixth, with the upper tail-coverts, 

 greenish-black. The axillars plumbeous-black. Bill and feet black. Young similar in 

 color, without additional markings of any kind. The gonys, however, convex, and the 

 bill generally more like that of the Jays. Length of male (fresh), 12.00; wing, 7.00; tail, 

 4.30; tarsus, 1.20. 



Hab. From Rocky Mountains to Pacific. East to Fort Kearney, north to Sitka, 

 south to Arizona. 



Habits. Clarke's Crow was first met with by tlie parties composing the 

 celebrated exploring party to the Eocky Mountains under the direction of 

 Lewis and Clarke. It was described by Wilson in 1811, who was in- 

 formed by individuals belonging to the expedition that these birds were 

 found inhabiting the shores of the Columbia and the adjacent country in 

 great numbers, frequenting the rivers and sea-shore, and that it seemed to 

 have all the noisy and gregarious habits of the common Crow of Europe. 



In his account of this species, Mr. Nvittall states that during his journey 

 westward in the month of July, he first observed individuals of this bird in 

 a small grove of pines on the borders of Bear Eiver, near where it falls into 

 Lake Timpanagos. This was at a height of about seven thousand feet 

 above the sea level, and in the 42d parallel. Their habits appeared to him 

 to correspond with those of the Nutcrackers of Europe. 



He afterwards saw a considerable flock of the young birds early in Au- 

 gust, in a lofty ravine near the Three Buttes, a remarkable isolated mountain 

 group about forty miles west of the Lewis Eiver. They appeared somewhat 

 shy, and were scattered through a grove of aspens, flying, with a slight 

 chatter, from tlie tops of bushes and trees, to the ground. He was of the 

 opinion that this species never descends below the mountain plains, but that 

 it has a constant predilection for the pine forests. 



Mr. Townsend afterwards found this species abundant on the Blue Moun- 

 tains of Oregon. He describes its flight as very unlike that of a Crow, 

 being performed in jerks, in the manner of a Woodpecker. At times, when 

 sitting, it is said to keep up a constant scream, in a very liarsh and grating 

 voice, and in an unvaried and prolonged tone. He states that it breeds in 

 very high pine-trees, and that he did not meet with it within five liundred 

 miles of the Columbia Eiver. 



Mr. Eidgway found this species one of the most abundant birds of the 

 pine forests of the Sierra Nevada. East of this range it was also met with, 

 though only in smaller numbers, in the cedar and pinon woods of the East 

 Huml)oldt Mountains. He adds that it is a bird so curiously striking as 

 at once to attract attention. It bears but very little resemblance to any 

 bird of its family, and in its general appearance, flight, and notes approaches 



