568 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



December, 1882 : During the past month or more I have seen a raven 

 flying over the plain. From the tracks in the snow I learned that it 

 was one of these that robbed my wolf trap of the bait. When flying 

 overhead it resembles a large crow, but may be distinguished by its 

 frequent sailing and by its voice, which is much deeper and is not un- 

 like the bark of a dog, and it is from this I suppose that the bird is called 

 "Barking Crow" by the Hudson Bay Company's employes. In the 

 vicinity of Wiunipeg it is a regular winter visitant, but when the spring 

 returns it retires, probably to the rocky and timbered laud in the region 

 of the large lakes. 



January 13, 1887, Rat Portage: Ravens continue as numerous as 

 ever about the town. When uuarmed one may sometimes approach 

 within 20 feet of them. I subsequently saw the species in numbers at 

 Schreiber's, north shore of Lake Superior (January 16), and at North 

 Bay, Lake Nepissiug (January 18), as well as at intervening points on 

 the railroad. I observed it carrying food in its claws ; and on one occa- 

 sion, at North Bay, saw one transfer a bone from its beak to its claws 

 and back again several times during flight. At Schreiber's they were 

 particularly numerous and tame. Almost any strange, weird sounds, 

 musical or harsh, heard in the woods there might, I found, be safely 

 referred to the raven. 



Raven {Corvus corax) : Always to be seen ; and so far from being a solitary bird, as 

 it is called in Europe, I made a discovery in its habits of which I had no idea before. 

 At the beginning of winter I observed that the ravens, which I saw about sunset no 

 matter where I was, were always flying towards the same point, and I concluded 

 there must be some large trees somewhere in that direction where a few pairs, per- 

 haps, roosted. One day, therefore, after having been out with my gun, I made a 

 point of returning to the fort in the evening by that quarter. Judge my surprise 

 when, among some clumps of young aspen trees, none of which was above 25 feet high 

 or thicker than my arm, I found one of these clumps literally filled with ravens, 

 which, on my near approach, took wing and commenced flying about in all directions. 

 I judged by countiug a portion that there were upwards of fifty in that one place; 

 and that no one should hereafter say, "Oh, they were a lot of crows," I shot one, 

 which I keep as a specimen. I have been to the same spot on other occasions during 

 the winter and always found my black friends. It is wonderful with what regularity 

 of time they repair to their roosting place in the evening and leave again in the 

 morning, by pairs, for their day's hunt. Oue pair flies directly over the fort each 

 morning, and as I sit on watch for the minute haud of the chronometer to come round 

 to each hour of observation as magnetic observer; they give a croak as they fly over, 

 as a morning salutation, I suppose ; at any rate I give them the credit for such civ- 

 ility; and looking to see the time I find it the same within two or three minutes, but 

 gradually earlier and earlier, for the sun, which is their clock, is each day lengthen- 

 ing his course above our horizon. The raven is only known by the name "crow" 

 here. (Capt. T. Blakiston, from Fort Carleton, 1858.) 



162. Corvus americanus. American Crow. 



Common summer resident of woodlands. A good mauy along Mouse 

 River, at the boundary (Coues). Duff"erin : Arrived before April 15 

 (Dawson). Red River Settlement : In 1859, before 4th of April ; speci- 



