20G TTTE ZOOLOGIST. 



daybreak on a fine morning, when setting out for a clay's journey, 

 their chatter and noise may be distinctly heard in Peru, six miles 

 away. The Crows in severe winters peck holes in the backs of 

 hogs, in some cases eating off the ears. Sometimes these Crows 

 roost in small bushes and large weeds, but generally in trees, 

 often tbe willow or cottonwood." 



In the great region west of the Eocky Mountains we practi- 

 cally leave the haunts of those species of the Crow genus hereto- 

 fore considered, and enter the land of the largest of Crows, the 

 American Eaven (C. corax sinuatus, Wagl.). It is interesting to 

 learn from Baird, Brewer, and Eidgeway that the Eavens form 

 winter colonies much as our eastern species. Dr. Coues is 

 quoted as observing them " congregating in autumn and winter 

 about Fort Whipple, Arizona." Their roost was in the pines 

 near the small enclosure where the beeves were slaughtered for 

 the garrison, ''and the banqueting there was never ended " upon 

 the offal. Also Captain Blakiston observed them near Fort 

 Carlton. They keep together in pairs during the day, but at 

 night roost in one immense bod} 7 in a clump of aspen-trees 

 about a mile from the fort. The incoming and outgoing of the 

 Eavens from the roost was with wonderful regularity. They 

 assemble about sunset, and disperse about half-an-hour before 

 sunrise. 



Mr. Watase (a Japanese student in this University) tells me 

 that there are vast numbers of Crows in Japan, especially in the 

 northern part, where they do immense damage to the crops. In 

 Tokio, in the great forest called the Emperor's Garden, right in 

 the heart of the city, there is a colony of many thousand Crows 

 which have their nests there, and at dusk from ten miles about 

 they gather at this rookery. Some ten or fifteen years - ago a law 

 was passed in Japan that the Crows be exterminated. All their 

 nests were torn from the trees, and policemen were dispatched in 

 every direction to kill them. Thousands had been destroyed, 

 when some thoughtful person suggested that the Crows were of 

 great value to the city as scavengers ; then the carnage was 

 ordered to be stopped, and to-day, protected by law, they are 

 apparently as numerous as ever. But where the crops suffer 

 from Crow depreciations, as in the north of the empire, the law 

 giving a bounty of five cents for every Crow's head is still in 

 force, and there are men who do nothing but go about killing 



