THE MEXICAN RAVEN” = 9s 
No. 2. 
MEXICAN RAVEN. 
A. O. U. No. 486. Corvus corax sinuatus (\Wagler). 
Synonyms.—AMERICAN RAVEN. SOUTHERN RAVEN. 
Description.—Like preceding but averaging smaller; bill relatively siualler 
and narrower; tarsus not so stout. Length up to 26 inches, but averaging less. 
Culmen 2.85 (72). 
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding—distinguishable only by range. 
Nesting.—Nest: placed on ledge or in crannies of basalt cliffs, more rarely 
in pine trees. 
General Range.—Western United States chiefly west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains; in its northerly extension nearly coincident with the Upper Sonoran life 
zone, south to Honduras. 
Range in Washington.—May be arbitrarily defined as restricted to the 
East-side, but common only on the treeless plains and in the Blue Mountain 
region. Resident. 
Authorities.—Corvus carnivorus Bart., Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. 
R. R. Surv. XII. pt. I]. 1860, p. 210. Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 
p. 396 f. 
IT is no mere association of ideas which has made the Raven the bird of 
ill omen. Black is his wing, and black is his heart, as well. While it may 
be allowed that he works no direct damage upon the human race, we cannot 
but share in sympathy the burden of the bird-world which regards him as the 
bete noir, diabolical in cunning, patient as fate, and relentless in the hour of 
opportunity. 
As I sit on an early May morning by the water’s edge on a lonely island 
in the Columbia River, all nature seems harmonious and glad. ‘The Meadow- 
larks are pricking the atmosphere with goads of good cheer in the sage 
behind; the Dove is pledging his heart’s affection in the cottonwood hard by ; 
the river is singing on the rapids; and my heart is won to follow on that 
buoyant tide—when suddenly a mother Goose cries out in terror and I leap 
to my feet to learn the cause. I have not long to wait. Like a death knell 
comes the guttural croak of the Raven. He has spied upon her, learned her 
secret, swept in when her precious eggs were uncovered; and he bears one off 
in triumph,—a feast for his carrion brood. When one has seen this sort of 
thing a dozen times, and heard the wail of the wild things, the croak of the 
Raven comes to be fraught with menace, the veritable voice of doom. 
To be sure, the Raven is not really worse than his kin, but he is dis- 
tinguished by a bass voice; and does not the villain in the play always sing 
bass? Somehow, one never believes the ill he hears of the soulful tenor, even 
tho he sees him do it; but beware of the bird or man who croaks at low C. 
