242 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



usually build it under some liij^h clitl'. They make a very large and bulky 

 uost, and, n\ liere not disturbed, use it several years in suceession. Tliey 

 also breed very early. He onee took a nest with eiglit ei;i;s on the lOth 

 of A]>ril, when the snow all around was (juite deep. This was sent to 

 the Smithsonian Institution. Its contents nearly tilled a busliel basket, 

 lie does not reijjard tlie IJavens as niiiLjratory. Though tliey are apparently 

 mne numerous in winter tlian in sunnner, tliis is ]tro]»ably because they 

 Ibisake the woods and come about the oi)en fields and the l)anks of rivei'S 

 lor dead fish, and thus are more noticed. Tl»ey are very shy, sagacious, and 

 vigilant, .so mucli .so tliat it is almost impo.ssible for one to get a shot at 

 them, ('rows avoid them, and the two are never seen togetlier. The farmers 

 (►f (hand Menan accuse tliem of pecking the eyes out of young land»s, and 

 always try to destroy tliem, and they grow less and less numerous every 

 year. The Havens, lie adds, appear to be on good terms with the I)uek 

 Hawks, as he has known a uest of the former within a few rods of one of 

 the latter. ' 



An egg of this species, from Anderson Ifiver, measures 1.96 inches in 

 length by 1.32 in breadth. Two from Grand Menan measure, one 2.0") inches 

 by 1. :'.(), the other 1.95 by 1.25. The ground-color of two of these is a 

 soiled sea-green, that of the third is a light bluish-giten. This is more spar- 

 ingly marked with dots, blotches, and cloudings of faint purple and purplish- 

 brown, chiefly at the larger end. The others are marked over the entire egg 

 with blotches of varying size and depth of coloring, of a deep purple-browu ; 

 some of the markings are not readily distinguishable from black. 



Corvus cryptoleucus, Couch. 



WHITE-ITECKEO CROW. 



Corvus crtfptolcucus, CoiCH, Pr. A. N. Sc. VII, April, 1854, &^ (Tamaulipas, Mexico). — 

 Baiki), Birds N. Am. 1858, 565, pi. xxii. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 284. 



Sp. CiiAK. The fourth quill is lonGft'st ; the third and fifth eqiuil ; the second lon^rer 

 than the sixth ; the first about e([ual to the seventh. Glossy black, with violet reflec- 

 tions : leathers of neck all round, back, and breast, snow-white at the base. Lenirth, 

 about 21.00; wing, 14 00; tail, 8.50. Feathers of throat lanceolate; bristly feathers 

 alon^' the Ikisc of the bill ooverinj; it for nearly two thirds its lencrth. 



Hah. Valley of Rio ( Jrande and Oila. Abundant on the Llauo Estacado, and at Eagle 

 Pass, Texas (Duesskh, Ibis, 18Go, 494). Colorado (Aiken). 



In the wddte bases to the feathers of the neck, etc., there is a resemblance 

 in this species to the C. hvcofpiaphalus of Porto Rico; but the latter has 

 entirely different proportions, blended instead of lanceolate feathei'S on the 

 throat, exceedingly short instead of unusually long nasal plumes, and many 

 other differences, and is in every feature totally distinct. 



Habits. Of the distinctive habits or the extent of the distribution of the 



