288 NUKTU AMERICAN BIRDS. 



l)le to shoot them. They descended in pairs to the sea-shore to feed on 

 dead fisli, erahs, and otlier animal substances thrown up by the sea. 



Mr. Kidufway informs me of the ])resence of this bird in the heavy forests 

 of the bottom-hinds in Southern Illinois. It is there (piite rare, however, 

 as he has met with but a few pairs. These were resident, and nested in the 

 tall timber of the Big Creek bottoms, in Itichland Co. 



Audubon's ])arty found it equally impossible to obtain a specimen at Lab- 

 rador. One afternoon Mr. Audubon hid himself nnder a nest several hours, 

 to no purj)ose. The old liavens would not show themselves while he was 

 within gunsliot, though the young clamored for food. As soon as he had 

 left tlie spot the female alighted on the nest, fed her young, and was off 

 again before she could be approached. 



At Grand ^lenan, where they are not rare, and where tliey breed among 

 the high clifi's, I found them so wild that it was almost impossilde even to 

 obtain siglit of them. Passing high in the air above our heads, their loud, 

 hoarse croak attested their alarm at the sight of their enemy, man. They 

 are looked upon with a ersion ])y the islanders, and are persecuted by them 

 without mercv. Tliev rob the nests of the Herring Gulls, interfering with 

 the islanders in tliis privilege, and are, wrongfully I believe, charged with 

 destroying voung land)S. 



Years afterwards, when I again encountered individuals of this species at 

 Chevenne, on the Plains, I could not but notice the immense difference in 

 their cliaracter. There perfect confidence in man took the place of dread. 

 Unmolested by the people, who regard them as desiralde scavengers, value- 

 less for food and useful in removing nuisances, they were as tame and famil- 

 iar iis the European Sparrow in the ]>arks of Xew York or Boston. On one 

 occasion 1 found one engaged in eating the remains of a dead cow just out- 

 side the city. It allowed me to a])]>roach to within five or six feet, when 

 with a very stately and dignified stride it moved out of my way, a!id kept 

 me at al)out this distance. I couhl not comj)el it to Hy to any distance, 

 even when I hastened my steps. 



In Xew England these birds are very rare, and their occurrence is only 

 accidental. One has been shot on tlie Conned icut, and another on the Mer- 

 rimack, in ^lassachusetts. They are not uiitrecj^uently met with in Northern 

 Xew York. 



On the Pacific Coast the Kaven is common from Sitka to San Diego. 

 Throughout Washington Territory it is said to be plentiful, more scattered 

 in the summer, and in the winter congregating about settlements and the 

 sea-shore. At Vancouver, during the winter, it was observed amicably as- 

 sociating with the Crows, and on the coast with tlie Eish Crows, but during 

 the s})ring, when the latter had nests, they boldly attacked the Havens, and 

 drove them away. 



In California and in all the adjacent regions, Dr. Cooper states, the Haven 

 is found everywhere in pairs, more numerous than in the Atlantic States, 



