VOl 1906 in ] Townsend, Birds of Cape Breton Island. 175 



Corvus brachyrhynchos. American Crow. — In 1881 Mr. 

 Brewster 1 was impressed with the familiarity of the Crow with 

 man in these regions, owing to the fact that, as no corn is planted, 

 there is no cause for dispute. Along the roads, in farm yards and 

 even in remote places at Cape Breton one may walk within a short 

 distance of crows. At Grand Narrows I was interested in watching 

 a crow on a fence within 20 yards of me pick a chicken bone. He 

 held the bone with his foot during the process but flew off with it 

 in his bill. It is common for crows to alight on buildings, and I 

 once saw four together on the roof of a small outhouse at Ingonish. 

 In eastern Massachusetts such familiarity would be very surpris- 

 ing. 



Corvus corax principalis. Northern Raven. — Along the 

 northeast coast of Cape Breton, between Englishtown and Neil's 

 Harbor, I found Ravens fairly common. Four or five were seen 

 nearly every day. In searching for some good field mark to dis- 

 tinguish this species from the Crow, I found that the shape of the 

 tail was diagnostic. The tail of the Crow when spread, or partly 

 spread is evenly and but very slightly rounded, for the length of the 

 outer feathers is nearly the same as that of the middle ones. In 

 the Raven, however, the middle feathers are noticeably longer than 

 the outer, and the gradation between the two or four middle feathers 

 and those outside is especially marked. I found that the tail of a 

 Corvus, once well seen, always showed definitely whether the bird 

 was cora.v principalis or brachyrhynchos, and the croak or caw, 

 if afterwards heard, always confirmed the diagnosis. The harsh 

 croak of the Raven is of course always diagnostic. I have noted 

 it as crrroak, crrraa and crrruk, and once near the top of Smoky 

 I was startled with a coarse cry that sounded like helup. As is well 

 known, the larger size of the Raven is of but little help in distin- 

 guishing the two species, unless they are near together for direct 

 comparison. Neither is the greater tendency of the Raven to sail 

 or soar conclusive for this purpose, for Crows at times disport 

 themselves in similar fashion. 



The road to Ingonish winds along near the summit of Mount 

 Smoky, and gives an unobstructed view into a huge ravine which 



1 hoc. cit. 



