Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog o/ the Birds of Missouri. 149 



nights on the snow-covered sand bank in front of the willow 

 thicket and exposed to the fierce northwest and north wind. 

 When they had gone in the early morning, every bird had 

 left the imprint of its body in the form of a light de- 

 pression in the snow with a hole in front made by the bill 

 and a few heaps of excreta on the opposite side, showing the bird 

 had spent all night in that position, always with the head turned 

 toward the wind, letting the wind sweep over its back, but keeping 

 the feet from freezing. The exodus from the roost in the early 

 morning and the influx in the afternoon was always a source of 

 great delight to the lover of animated Nature as it is one of the 

 most imposing sights imaginable. The Crow with all its real 

 and alleged faults would be sadly missed by all who have the 

 gift of looking above dollars and cents in the search of happiness 

 and find it in the admiration of animated Nature, not a small 

 part of which we owe to this graceful, interesting ornament of 

 any and every sort of landscape. 



491. NuciFRAGA COLUMBIANA (Wils.). Clarke's Nutcracker. 



Corvus columbianus. Picicorvus columbianus. Clarke's Crow. 



Geog. Dist. — Coniferous forests of western North America 

 from New Mexico, Arizona and northern Lower California to 

 northwestern Alaska. Accidental in South Dakota, Nebraska, 

 Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. 



In vol. 12 of the Auk Mr. John A. Bryant of Kansas City, 

 Mo., reports the capture of a fine adult bird killed about October 

 28, 1894, four miles east of Kansas City. The Arkansas record 

 is from Earl, Crittendon Co., less than twenty miles from the 

 Mississippi River and eighty miles south of our state line; the 

 bird was taken April 1, 1891. The Kansas record is from Mar- 

 shall Co., in the northeastern part of the state, August 13, 1888. 

 There is also a record from Omaha, Neb., and another from Alda 

 in southeastern South Dakota, October, 1883, but all should 

 be considered purely accidental visitants. 



V*A 



Family Icteridae. Blackbirds, Orioles, etc. 



*494. DoLiCHONYXORYZivoRUS (Linn.). Bobolink. 



Fringilla oryzivora. Emberiza oryzivora. Reedbird. Ricebird. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America ; west to Utah, northeast- 

 ern Nevada, Idaho and southeastern British Columbia ; |north 



