THE AMERICAN RAVEN 329 



things he should not. He is too fond of eggs, and also of 

 young birds. He will pull up, by the roots, altogether too 

 much newly planted corn; which is very unfair toward the 

 farmer. While the damage is seldom very serious, it is 

 always annoying; and when the Crow passes the limit of 

 human endurance, powder and lead are his portion. For 

 example: when a Crow nesting in Beaver Valley elected to 

 make visits to our duck-pond where young wild ducks were 

 hatching, and take five mallard ducklings in one morning, 

 Curator Beebe was compelled to choose quickly between 

 ducks and Crows, and provide for the survival of the fittest. 



The American Raven 1 is a bird of the "wild West," 

 quite rare, and seldom seen beyond the mountains. Even 

 when you see it for the first time, you will readily recognize 

 it by its all-black plumage, large size, slow and heavy flight 

 and its hoarse and seldom "Quock!''' The crow is at all times 

 a cheerful citizen, but the Raven always has a sore throat, 

 and is always going to a funeral. 



He lives with Clarke's nut-cracker and the other dwellers 

 on the mountain tops north of the arid regions of Arizona 

 and New Mexico, and nests in the crevices of high, rugged 

 cliffs or canyon walls that are as completely inaccessible as 

 can be found. He is suspicious of all attentions, wants no 

 companions save of his own kind, and mighty few of those. 

 The "Quock" of a Raven in a rock-ribbed and gloomy can- 

 yon is anything but a cheerful sound. 



Like the vulture, this bird feeds upon dead animals, dead 

 fish and sometimes also upon the poisoned meat that wolfers 

 distribute so generously. 



1 Cor'vus co'rax sin-u-a'tus. Length, 22 to 24 inches. 



