Farmers' Bulletin 1102. 



DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE. 



Although the crow is so well known to farmers in the Eastern 

 States that one would hardly suppose it could be confused with other 

 birds, considerable uncertainty in identification exists in regions 

 where it is scarce or where its range overlaps that of closely related 

 species. Ordinarily little distinction is made by the residents of the 

 South Atlantic coast between the common crow and the fish crow 

 a bird of quite different habits ; and the same lack of distinction is 

 shown by the average individual of the northwest coast, where the 

 northwestern crow, also a maritime species, mingles with the com- 

 mon form. In the Southwest the small white-necked raven is fre- 

 quently called a crow, and in some other parts of the West even the 

 larger ravens have been similarly misnamed. 



There are within the borders of the United States three species of 

 crows. By far the most abundant and widely distributed form is the 

 common crow. 1 This bird, with its three closely related varieties, the 

 Florida crow, 2 the southern crow, 3 and the western crow, 4 occupies a 

 range comprising practically all of our country east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, as well as sections in the Northwest and along our west- 

 ern coast as far as southern California. It also is found locally in 

 parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The other two species are 

 smaller and of maritime habits. The fish crow, 5 whose notes are not 

 greatly different from those of the young of the common crow, 

 occupies a narrow strip along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 

 Connecticut to Texas, and is seldom found more than twenty miles 

 from salt water. Its counterpart, the northwestern crow, 6 which 

 some authorities consider simply a subspecific form of the common 

 crow, occupies the Pacific coastal region from Puget Sound to 

 southern Alaska. 



The w r hite-necked raven, 7 inhabiting the arid and semiarid sections 

 of Texas and southern New Mexico and Arizona, is the raven most 

 frequently confused with the crow. This bird's slightly greater 

 size, the white bases of the feathers of its neck, and its restricted 

 range, however, serve to identify it. The northern raven, 8 found 

 along our northern boundary and at higher altitudes farther south, 

 and the common raven, 9 present in numbers in the States west of 

 the Great Plains, may be distinguished by their greater size and by 

 their discordant notes, which possess none of the lusty, open-throated 

 quality of those of the crow. 



In this bulletin the name " crow " has been used to cover the four 

 forms of the common crow, including the close relatives, the Florida, 

 southern, and western crows. 10 The food habits of all these are es- 



1 Corvus brachyrhynchos braohyrhynchos. e Corvus caurinus. 



2 Cofvus brachyrhynchos pascuus. 7 Corvus cryptoleucus. 



3 Corvus brachyrhynchos paulus. s Corvus corax principaUs. 

 * Corvus brachyrhynchos hesperis. 9 Corvus corax sinuatus. 



B Corvus. ossifragu*. 10 Corvus brachyrhynchos, four subspecies. 



