328 



ZOOLOGY— BIRDS. 



siirj)rised at hearing the famiUar ccm, caw, of these birds ; and subsequent 

 investigation revealed the fact that they were quite numerous, associating 

 freely with, and apparently the boon companions of, the ravens. Yet, even 

 here, I found that they had lost little of their traditional shyness, and it was 

 some time ere I procured a specimen. Gun in hand, I found no difficulty 

 in approaching the trees where sat the ravens, looking down upon me with 

 a comical glance of Avonder, tinged with a slight suspicion that all was not 

 just as it should be. But the crows had long before taken the alarm, and 

 made themselves scarce, and from some secure perch sent back their warn- 

 ing caws, given, as it appeared to me, with more than the usual earnestness, 

 as though deprecating the stupidity of their big cousins. When I did suc- 

 ceed in obtaining a shot, the ravens appeared thunderstruck at the unusual 

 sight of a disabled comrade, and, sallying from their perches, came flocking 

 about the body of their fallen friend, evincing their sympathy in dismal 

 croakings. In the neighboring mountains I saw several at this season at an 

 elevation of 10,000 feet, and was told by a settler that they were found 

 here through the summer, and that the Indians knew them as Rain Crows 

 in distinction from the raven, believing that they foretold the coming of rain 

 by their notes. Mr. C. E. Aiken also obtained a young bird in New Mexico ; 

 and its occurrence tlu-oughout the Middle and Southern Region in greater 

 or less numbers is probable. 



PICICOKVITS COLUMBIANUS (Wil.s.). 

 Clarke's Crow. 



CnrrriH columbianus, WiLS., Aiu. Orii., iii, 1811, ii, 20, pi. xx. 



I'icicorinis Columbia iiufi, Nkwb., P. It. E. Kop., vi, 1857, 83. — Picicorvus cohtmhranus 

 (sic), Bd., Ives' Col. Expeil., 1S57-5S, pt. iv, 0. — Jrf., Bird.s N. A., 18."»S, "jT.i, 

 i)L'."..— Xantus, Piof. Afiid. Nat. Sci. Phihi., Is.V.l, lOii (Fort Tt-joii, <"al.).— 



