eh "THE NORTHWEST CROW. 
“The sea-coast is abandoned when the breeding time arrives early in 
May, when they resort in pairs to the interior; selecting a patch of open prairie, 
where there are streams and lakes and where the wild crab apple and white- 
thorn grows, in which they build nests precisely like that of the Magpie, arched 
over the top with sticks. ‘The bird enters by a hole on one side but leaves by 
an exit hole in the opposite. The inside is plastered with mud; a few grass 
stalks strewn loosely on the bottom keep the eggs from rolling. This is so 
marked a difference to the Barking Crow’s nesting [“Barking Crow” is J. K. 
L.’s solecism for the Western Crow, C. b. hesperis], as in itself to be a specific 
distinction. The eggs are lighter in blotching and much smaller. I examined 
great numbers [! !] of nests at this prairie and on the Columbia, but invariably 
found that the same habit of doming prevailed. After nesting, they return 
with the young to 
the sea-coasts, and 
remain aay Lane 
flocks often associ- 
ated with Barking 
Crows until nesting 
time comes again.” 
—No single point of 
which has been con- 
firmed by  succeed- 
ing observers. 
Dr. Cooper wrote? 
with exact truthful- 
ness: ‘“This fish- 
crow frequents the 
coast and inlets of 
Photo by the Author. this Territory in 
large numbers, and 
is much more gregarious and familiar than the common Crow. Otherwise it 
much resembles that bird in habits, being very sagacious, feeding on almost 
everything animal and vegetable, and having nearly the same cries, differing 
rather in tone than character. Its chief dependence for food being on the sea, 
it is generally found along the beach, devouring dead fish and other things 
brought up by the waves. It is also very fond of oysters, which it breaks by 
carrying them upward and dropping again on a rock or other hard material. 
When the tide is full they resort to the fields or dwellings near the shore and 
devour potatoes and other vegetables, offal, etc. They, like the gulls, perceive 
the instant of change of the tide, and flocks will then start off together for a 
favorite feeding ground. They are very troublesome to the Indians, stealing 
Taken at Neah Bay. 
THE PHANTOM CROWS. 
a. Rep. Pac. R. R. Survey, Vol. XII., Bk. II. [Senate, 1860]. 
