CORVID.E — THE CROWS. 241 



slaii^liter-hmises. In Xoveiuber, in the IJaudera Hills, several came to liis 

 camp to feast on the ofl'al of deer. Dr. Woodhouse also found them very 

 ahundant in Texas, the Indian Territory, and New Mexico, and esiiecially 

 so on the butl'alo plains. In the Mexican Boundary Survey, iJr. Kennerly 

 observed these birds everywhere in Northern Mexico, tiocks of them follow- 

 ing the train from point to point. They were not at all shy, but often came 

 into camp in search of food. 



Captain Ijlakiston, havinj; enjoyed unusual opportunities for observing,' the 

 habits of the American Kaven during his residence in high northern regions, 

 characterizes the species as anything but solitary. During the day they are 

 usually met with in i)airs, except when drawn together in large numliers 

 around the carcass of a dead animal. At night, during the winter, they 

 repair to some chosen resting-place, usually a clump of trees on the edge of 

 a prairie, and there roost in one inmiense body. One of these roosting-places 

 was about a mile from Fort Carlton, and Captain Blakiston's attention was 

 first drawn to it by noticing that about sunset all the Kavens, from all quar- 

 ters, were flying towards this point. Keturning to the fort in the evening by 

 that quarter, he found a clumj) of aspen-trees, none of them more than 

 twenty-five feet high, filled with Kavens, who, at his approach, took wing 

 and flew round and round. He also noted the wonderful regularity with 

 which they repaired to their roost ing-place in the evening and left it again 

 in the morning, by pairs, on their day's hunt. They always left in the morn- 

 ing, within a minute or two of the same time, earlier and earlier as the days 

 grew longer, on cold or cloudy mornings a little later, usually just half an 

 hour before sunrise. In April they all paired oft*, and their roosting-place 

 became deserted. Durinjjj an excursion about one hundred and fift ■ miles 

 southw^est of Fort Carltor, i'}i«[)tain Blakiston found several nests of IJavens 

 with eggs, one of which was in a small tree near a lake, and was not more 

 than fifteen feet above it. It contained six eggs, was about a foot in diame- 

 ter, composed of sticks, and was lined with buflalo-hair and pieces of scarlet 

 cloth, evidently picked up about an Indian camping-ground. 



Dr. Heermann states that while in California he alwavs found the nests 

 of the Kaven placed high on bold precipitous cliffs, secure against danger ; 

 in the vast desolate plains of New Mexico he saAv these birds building on 

 low trees, and even on cactus-plants, less than three feet from the ground, 

 showing how much circumstances and localities affect the habits of birds 

 regarding incubation. 



A Kaven, probably this species, is abundant on the plateau of Mexico. 

 The Cerro Colonido, near Tehuacan, is the rendezvous of a large number of 

 these birds, where, according to Sumichrast, at the time of the flowering of 

 the maffuoj, they gather in great abundance, to feed on the blossoms of this 

 plant, which are their favorite food. 



Mr. Boardman writes me that he has several times collected Kavens' eggs 

 at (irrand Menan, but always found the nest a hard one to take, as they 



vol.. M. . 31 



