CORVIDJi — THE CROWS. 



259 



On their arrival they assemble in immense flocks, and the noise they 

 make he describes as a most discordant, continuous, grating clatter, intensified 

 at times into a perfect shriek. These assemblies last about a week, after 

 which they separate in pairs. 



A nest of this bird was found by Mr. Lord in the top of a lofty pine at least 

 two hundred feet high, — felled in cutting the boundary line. By chance 

 he discovered the nest, about which the old birds w^ere hovering, leaving no 

 doubt of its identity. This nest was very large and composed of fir twigs, 

 bits of bark, the leaves of the pine, fine root-fibres, with small pieces of 

 moss, and gray lichens mixed carelessly with the other materials. It was 

 sliallow and round, and presented a large extent of surface beyond the mar- 

 gins of the hollow containing the eggs. The eggs were in fragments, much 

 like the eggs of Steller's Jay in color, bat of a lighter shade of bluish-green. 

 He thinks that their habit is to build in the very tallest pines. 



Dr. Kennerly also met with this Crow west of Albuquerque, in New 

 Mexico, in the thick pine woods skirting the eastern slope of the Eocky 

 Mountains, where it was quite abundant. He rarely saw more than two or 

 three together. None were met with after leaving the mountains. 



A single specimen of this crow was obtained at Sitka, by Bischoff. 



Genus GYMNOKITTA, Pr. Max. 



Gymnorhinus, Pr. Max. Keise Nord. Anier. II, 1841, 21. 

 Gymnokitta, Pr. Max. " 1850," Gray. 

 Cyanoceplmlus, Bonap. "1842," preoccupied in Botany. 



(Type, G. cyanocepliala.) 



Gen. Char. Bill elongated, depressed, shorter than the tarsus, longer than the head, 

 without notch, similar to that of Sturnella in shape. Culmen nearly straight; com- 

 missure curved; gonys ascending. Nostrils small, oval, entirely exposed, the bristly 



Gymnokitta cyanocephala. 



feathers at the base of the bill being very minute. Tail short, nearly even, much shorter 

 than the pointed wings, which cover three fourths of the tail. Tarsi considerably longer 

 than the middle toe. Color of the single species blue, most intense anteriorly ; the throat 

 streaked with white. 



