PASSERES— COEVIDAE— CORVUS AMERICANUS. 327 



become so distributed over the country as not to attract attention. Being 

 seldom disturbed, these birds have Httle of the shyness which the common 

 crow of the East exhibits, though it is not always easy to get within gunshot 

 of them. I have on one occasion ridden along within twenty feet of a fence, 

 on which sat thirteen of these ' imps of darkness,' only one of which flew 

 away, the others contenting themselves with keeping a watchful eye on my 

 demeanor, and an instant's halt on my part, or a suspicious motion, would 

 have started them off instantly. C. cryptoleticus is mainly a bird of the plains, 

 being replaced in the mountains by the common raven. The two birds 

 resemble each other so closely both in notes and habits that it is difficult 

 to distinguish between them at a distance ; the greatest apparent discrepancy 

 being in size, though the croak of carnivorus is somewhat deeper and louder 

 than that of the other. I have sometimes found them both associated in the 

 same flock. Each succeeding year since I first saw these birds I have 

 noticed a marked decrease in their numbers in El Paso County, Col. The 

 cause of this I do not know unless it is because as the country becomes 

 more thickly settled the solitude they love so well is denied them." 



COKVUS AMERICANUS, Aud. 



Common Crois". 



Corvus americanus, Add., Oru. Biog., ii, 1834, 317, v, 447, pi. clvi. — WooDH., Sitgreave's 

 Exp. Zuni & Col. Riv., 1854, 78.— Newb., P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 82.— Bd., 

 Birds iSr. A., 1858, 5G6.— Heerm., P. R. R. Rep., x, i)t. iv, 1859, 55.— Henry, 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., 1859, 108 (New Mexico).— CooP. & Suckl., 

 P. R. R. Rep., xii, pt. ii, ISCO, 211, pi. xxiii.— Hayd., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, 

 xii, 1802, 171.— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1870, 465.— Allen, Ball. 

 Mus. Comp. Zool., 1872, 178 (Kansas; Utah).— Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 

 1872, 162.— Snow, Birds Kan., 1872, 12.— Hold., Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 1872, 203.— Bd., Bkew., & Ridg., N. A. Birds, ii, 1874, 243, pi. xxxvii, f. 5.— 

 Yarrow & Henshaw, Rep. Orn. Specs., 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 20. — 

 Henshaav, An. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., xi, 1874, l.—M., An. List Birds Utah, 

 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 46.— Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 Jane, 1874, 16, 31.— CoUES, Birds Northwest, 1874, 206. 



Comparatively rare in Utah ; met with only at Provo, where a number 

 were seen at different times. Said by the settlers to have appeai-ed within 

 a few years. 



At Camp Apache, Ariz., in November of past season, I was somewhat 



