BIRDS. 167 



Raven : Corvus corax slnuatus. — The ravens, ■while not becoming 

 tame like the camp jays, are said to come around the reclamation 

 camps for food. At Stanton Lake Mr, Higginson found them very 

 common winter visitors " round the deer olfal in the river bottoms 

 and also quite a frequent visitor at the lake.'' He says, " We used to 

 hear their mournful croak as they sailed over us at all times, but they 

 seemed to be particularly attached to the river bottoms, and it was 

 there that I saw most of them. They were wary and shy to a degree." 



Like the jays they are on the lookout for game. As an old hunter 

 said, " Go out in a canyon and kill a deer, and these buggers will 

 come," and he added that " they will circle around when meat is 

 being dressed," The Blackfeet, he told us, " instead of hanging 

 up their meat as other hunters do, hide it on the ground, and to 

 protect it from the ravens and coyotes take a stick that will peel off 

 white and sharpen the end of it, and after dressing the deer stripe 

 the stick with blood like a barber's pole, and lay it alongside the 

 meat. This they have done for generations and generations." 



The ravens are common on the west slope of the mountains, ISIr. 

 Stevenson says, and seen occasionally on the east slope. The only 

 two seen by us during the summer were flying from the park across 

 Belton. Three were seen by Mr. Bryant, of California, flying over 

 Lincoln Pass. " AVhile they were in sight," he says, " several mar- 

 mots in the vicinity seemed greatly disturbed, each standing erect 

 and giving his loud piercing whistle." In April, 1918, ]\Ir. Bailey 

 saw and heard them from Lake INIcDonald up the North Fork valley 

 to the Kintla Lakes, especially wdiere coj'otes had been killing deer. 



"Western Crow: Cormis l)rachyrhyneJios hesper/'s. — A pair of 

 crows were seen at their nest July 5 at Glacier Park, and a flock 

 seen July 7 between Glacier Park and St, Mary Lake. They were 

 also seen on the Siierburne Lake Flats and north of the Alberta 

 boundary. They are said b}^ Mr. Gibb to stay in the park from 

 early spring until late fall. 



Clark Nutcracker: Xucifraga columhiana. — At Many Glaciers, 

 when the automobile stages are drawn up before the door, one of the 

 strongly marked Clark crows, or nutcrackers, may be caught sight 

 of, glancing back warily as he flies away over the tree tops: or in one 

 of the lower valleys, such as the Swiftcurrent, he may be seen cross- 

 ing with strong direct flight from ridge to ridge of the landscape; 

 but at such places as Granite Park or Iceberg Lake, as on rocky 

 slopes among the timberline dwarfs, he is found at home, his loud 

 Z^arVW sounding through the clear mountain air as he goes about 

 hunting for cone seeds in the pine tops. Flying in straight as a 

 ruler he will often curve up to the spire and light with a steadying 

 flash of his black and Avhite tail. 



