146 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



1906, when we had the coldest March in history with an average 

 temperature of 33°, i. e., ten degrees below the lowest average in 

 thirty years, Blue Jays did not become common at their breeding 

 stands before the middle of April. In exceptionally mild winters 

 old pairs have annoimced their return in the middle of Februarj^ 

 In ordinary seasons the first nests are finished early in April 

 and when the northern transients and birds of the second year 

 appear on the scene, our birds, occupied with domestic duties 

 and therefore quiet and retiring, contrast sharply with the 

 bustling, restless troops. In June and early July we sometimes 

 see them feed grown j^oung and build again at the same time, 

 which means that they intend to breed a second time. By the 

 middle of July the birds of the first brood are fully grown and 

 have begun to play a conspicuous part as noise makers in the 

 otherwise quiet woods. Throughout August and September 

 to the middle of October there is no species of birds more promi- 

 nent, oftener seen or heard, than the Blue Jay. After September 

 21, they are more restless than before and it becomes evident 

 that some change is going on ; some days they are quiet and few, 

 then again noisy and numerous. After the first of November 

 we have to go to the sheltered river bottoms and to the heavily 

 wooded southeast, if we want to see them] in larger numbers or 

 noisy troops ; those that stay near their breeding grounds are 

 then quiet and circumspect, though for reasons of security and 

 provender frequenting the environs of human habitations and 

 therefore appearing more numerous than they really are. 



Subfamily Corvidae. Crows. 

 *486. CoRvus coRAX siNUATus (Wagl.). American Raven. 



Corvus sinuatus. Corvus cacalotl. Corvus corax. Corvus carnivorus. 

 Mexican Raven. 



Geog. Dist. — ^Western United States, Mexico, Guatemala, 

 northern Honduras; east to southern Indiana, southern Illinois, 

 Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming and Colorado. Now 

 rare or extinct in all settled parts east of the Rocky Mountains. 



In Missouri formerly a permanent resident nesting on the cliffs 

 along the rivers. Audubon mentions seeing several Ravens, 

 May 7, 1843, near the northeast corner of the state. Prince of 

 Wied met with them near the same place, May 1, 1833. Dr. 

 Hoy has the Raven in his list, made in 1854 in western Missouri, 

 and Dr. J. A. Allen found it "apparently common" in 1872. 



