396 LIFE HISTORIES OF NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



They measure 26.67 by 20.07, 26.67 by 20.07, 26.67 by 19.81, 26.42 by 

 20.07, arxd 25.40 by 20.32 millimetres, or 1.05 by 0.79, 1.05 by 0.79, 1.05 by 

 0.7S, 1.04 by 0.79, and 1 by OM inches. 



The type specimen. No. 22449 (PI. 3, Fig. 21), from a set frf tive eg-g-s, was 

 taken by Mr. A. TV. Anthony, near Beavertou, Oregon, on March 31, 1885, and 

 represents an average egg of the set. 



159. Corvus corax sinuatus (Wagler). 



AMERICAN RAVEN. 



Gornis sinuafiift "WAfrLER, Isis. 1820, 748. 



Corcus corax sinuatus UiDfavAY, rroceedings U. S. National Masenm, VIII, 1885, 355. 



(B 423, 424, C 226, R 280, 338, XJ 486.) 



Geographicai, range : From British Columbia, the southern parts of the Dominion 

 of Canada and the riiitcd States, mostly west of the Mississippi Valley, south through 

 Mexico to Guatemala. Local and much rarer in the eastern United States; principally in 

 mountainous regions; south to northern South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northern 

 Alabama. 



Our Ravens have recently been separated into two races; but fi-om the 

 information I have been able to obtain it is questionable if the alleged differ- 

 ences of the two forms will prove constant and marked enoug-h to warrant this 

 distinction. There is not at present sufficient material available for examination 

 to determine this conclusively. I will leave this to abler ornithologists to decide, 

 and will follow the adopted nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union 

 for the present, including, however, the Ravens found in the eastern United States 

 in this race. 



The American Raven is more generally distributed tlu-oughout the western 

 parts of the United States than in the eastern portions of its range, where it is 

 only found loeallv, and principallv in the more mountainous regions from New 

 E igland and northern New York to northern South Carolina, and in the thinly 

 iuliabited and heavily timbered sections of some of om- Northern and Middle 

 States. It seems to make little difference to these birds how desolate the country 

 which they inhabit may be, as long as it furnishes sufficient food to sustain life, 

 and they are not hard to please in such matters. One is liable to meet with them 

 singly or in pau-s, and occasionally in considerable numbers, along the cliffs of 

 the seashore, and on the adjacent islands of the Pacific coast, from Washington 

 south to Lower California, as well as in the mountains and arid plains of the 

 interior, even in the hottest and most barren wastes of the Colorado Desert, as 

 the Death Valley region, and through all the States and Ten-itories west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. In the eastern parts of its range it is most commonly found 

 among the numerous islands off the coast of Maine, in the Adirondack wilder- 

 ness in northern New York, and especiallv in the extensive mountain regions of 

 North Carolina, wliei-e it appears to be as common as in man}" localities in the 

 West. 



