242 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



usually build it under Sdine high clill'. Tiiey make a very largo and bulky 

 iiL'st, and, wlieie nt)t disturbed, use it several yeiirs in succession. Tliey 

 also breed very early. He once took a nest witli eight eggs on the lOtli 

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

 tlie Smithsonian Institution. Its contents nearly tilled a busliel basket. 

 He does not regard the Havens as migratory. Tliough tiiey are apiiarently 

 mure numerous in winter than in summer, this is jiroltaldy because they 

 forsake tiie woods and come about the open fields and tlie Imuks of rivers 

 for dead fish, and tiius are more noticed. They are very shy, sagacious, and 

 \ igilaiit, so much so tiiat it is almost impossible for one to get a siiot at 

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

 of (irand Menan accuse them of })ecking the eyes out of young lamlts, and 

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

 year. Tlie liaveiis, he adils, appear to be on good terms with the Duck 

 Ha\\ks, as he has known a nest of the former within a few rods of one of 

 tlie latter. 



An egg of this species, from A >derson Kiver, measures 1.9G inches in 

 length by 1.32 in Itreadth. Two from Grand jMenan measure, one 2.00 inclies 

 by l..">0, the other 1.95 by 1.25. The ground-color of two of these is a 

 soiled sea-green, that of the tliird is a liglit bluish-green. This is more spar- 

 ingly marked witli dots, lilotche-s, and cloudings of faint purple and purplish- 

 l)rown, chiefly at the larger end. Tlie others are marked over the entire egg 

 witli 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-NECKED CBOW. 



Corvus cn/ptoleuciis, Coi-cn, I'r. A. N. So. VII, A])ril, 1854, 66 (Tamaulipa.s, Moxioo). — 

 lUiiO), IJirds N. Am. 18S8, .505, i)l. .x.xii. ^Cooi-Eli, Orii. Cal. I, 1870, 284. 



Sp. Cn.Mi. The foiirtli quill i.s loiifjcst ; tlio third and fifth equal; tho sproivl lotifrer 

 than Iho sixtii ; tlio liist about ('([ual to t\u: scvoTith. (rlossy black, with violet rcfluc- 

 tioiis; featlioi's of neck all i-ouiiil, hack, and hroast, snow-white at the base. Lcn<;th, 

 about 21.00; wing, 14()0; tail, ».'>{). Fi'athcr.s of throat lanceolate; bristly feathers 

 aion^' the bitsc of the bill covering it for nearly two thirds it.s length. 



Ham. Valley of Rio (iranile and Oila. Alunidant on the Llano Estacado, and at Eagle 

 Pass, Texas (Duksskk, Ibis, 180"), 494). Colorado (Aikkn). 



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

 in this species to the 6^ Icin'ofpuiphnlus of I'orto Rico ; but the latter has 

 entirely diil'orent proportions, Itlended instead of lanceolate feathers on the 

 throat, exceedingly siiort instead of unusually long nasal ])lumes, and many 

 other differences, and is in every feature totally distinct. 



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



