264 CORVID^. 



The southern range of the Raven in Asia is not well deter- 

 mined ; but it Avould seem to occur throughout Thibet, in 

 the eastern Himalayas (except Sikim) and thence westward to 

 Kumaon, Ladak, Cashmere, the Punjab, Sind and Affghanis- 

 tan. It is common in the highlands of Persia, in Armenia, 

 Anatolia and Palestine. Mr. Wyatt believes that he twice 

 saw it in flocks near Sinai, but it does not appear in Egypt, 

 nor indeed anywhere in Africa. It is reported as inhabit- 

 ing Cyprus, Crete and generally the other islands of the 

 Mediterranean, though Mr. Wright never observed it in Malta. 

 Throughout the rest of Europe it is more or less numerous. 

 In the Nearctic Region it ranges from East Greenland to 

 Oonalaska, and from Cape Lupton, where it was found breed- 

 ing by the last Arctic Expedition, to Guatemala, or per- 

 haps to Honduras (Ibis, 1860, p. 112), but varying greatly 

 in abundance according to locality. Thus it is more or less 

 plentiful over the whole of the fur-countries, and as a rule 

 is more generally distributed throughout the western than 

 the eastern portion of the North-American continent, for it 

 is common on the Pacific coast from Sitka to San Diego, 

 while in New England and some of the Atlantic States it is 

 very rare. There are districts also of the interior, even to 

 the southward, in which it is plentiful, as in Arizona, where, 

 according to Dr. Coues, it is resident ; and it seems to be 

 equally abundant in Texas and on the high plains of Mexico. 

 Audubon wrote of it as being in some degree migratory in 

 the United States, but since it was observed to brave the 

 severity of an arctic winter* in some of the more northern 

 localities visited by our explorers, the movements noticed by 

 him are probably limited to the young which, in the New 

 as in the Old World, are driven away by their parents.-f- 



* The rigours of such a winter are curiously exemplified by the fact that at 

 Port Bowen, the Ravens were frequently observed to have a white ring about 

 their neclc, caused by the condensation of their own breath. 



f Examples of the Raven from many extra-European countries have been 

 specifically separated by some writers from the true Corvus corax ; but Mr. 

 Dresser, after due consideration, reunites most of them thereto — the Ravens of 

 Africa (C. umbrhius, C. affinis and 0. tinrjiianus), two of which also occur in 

 South-western Asia, being, however, recognized as distinct. 



