CORVID^ — THE CROWS. 



303 



Fort Benton, April 23, J. A. Mullan). Generally ashy-plumbeous, with a decided bluish 

 cast to wings and tail ; orbital region, lores, forehead, and nasal tufts blackish ; crown, a 

 broad space below the eye from the bill across the auriculars, with the middle of the 

 abdomen, pale hoary-ashy. Wings and tail as in the adult. 



This race, very different from the two styles found to the westward and 

 eastward of it, is peculiar to Eocky Mountain regions, and apparently only 

 occurring south of the northern boundary of the United States. A very 

 large series of specimens, brought in at various times from numerous lo- 

 calities, substantiate the constancy of the characters pointed out above. 



Genus PSILORHINUS, Ruppbll. 



Psilorhinus, RttppELL, Mu.s. Senck. 1837, 188. (Type, Pica morio, Wagler.) 



Char. Color very dull brown above. Bill very stout, compressed, without notch ; 

 higher than broad at the nostrils ; culmen curved from the base. Nostrils rounded ; the 



Psilorhinux morio. 



anterior extremity rounded off into the bill ; not covered by bristles, but fully exposed. 

 Tail rather longer than the wings, graduated ; the lateral feather three fourths the 

 longest ; secondaries and tertials nearly as long as the primaries. Legs stout and short, 

 not equal to the head, and little longer than the bill from base. 



This genus embraces Jays of large size and very dull plumage. The thick 

 bill, with the much curved culmen, the moderate tail, and the open nostrils, 

 may serve to distinguish it from its allies. The nostril is very large, and its 

 anterior portion is bevelled off to a greater degree than in any genus, except 

 in Calocitta. This last-mentioned genus has the same form of ])ill and of 

 nostrils, but the head has a long recurved crest ; the tail is twice as long as 

 the wings ; the lateral feather nearly half the middle ; the lateral tarsal 

 plates scutellate for the inferior half, etc. 



