168 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



birds, and iu both cases many examples are fonnd nniting the various extremes. The recognition 

 of the American and European birds as races woukl involve the separation of the American bird 

 into three races. 



The Old "World birds nsuallj- have heavier bills than the American. The bill is deeper at 

 the base, whence the culmen has a full, well-marked curve to the tip of the bill. There is less of 

 the pnrple gloss on the feathers, but one specimen shows this gloss as in American birds, and 

 among the latter may be fonnd the heavy bills and dull plumage apparently most common among 

 European birds. 



Couvus CAURINUS Baird. Northwest Crow. 



Bischoff obtained numei'ous specimens of this little known bird at Sitka. Dr. Bean found 

 it abundant at Sitka in Juno and saw others at George Island. From Sitka down the coast to 

 Washington Territory it is very abundant. An egg of this bird from Sitka has the ground color 

 light sea-green, with markings and blotches of olive-brown, varying in size and of different shades. 



Scarcely anything is known of the habits of this fish-crow, and of the meager account which 

 we possess I quote the most important. According to Mr. J. K. Lord it abandons the sea coast of 

 British Columbia early in May, and builds its nest on trees or bushes on the borders of small 

 prairies iu the interior. Their nests are precisely like those of the magpie, arched over with 

 sticks. The bird enters by a hole on one side and leaves by an exit on the opposite. The inside 

 is plastered with mud and a few grass stalks strewn loosely on the bottom keep the eggs from 

 rolling. He examined great numbers of nests on this prairie and on the Columbia, but invariably 

 found the same habit of doming prevailing. While the birds remain inland their food consists of 

 small reptiles, insects, uiollusks, and it even captures butterflies on the wing. Both male and female 

 defend the nest fiercely from all intrusion of bird or mammal. They lay from five to seven eggs, 

 which are smaller and lighter colored than those of the common crow. The breeding season over, 

 they return to the seacoast, the immediate vicinity of which they frequent with the common crow, 

 feeding along the shore at low tide. Mr. Lord's opinion of the specific identity of this bird is 

 upheld by later investigations, particularly those of Mr. Henshaw, though until further work is 

 done, and a larger series of birds at hand, the subject of the crows of the northwest coast cannot 

 be satisfactorily concluded. In the interior of North America Richardson found the Corvus amerl- 

 canus extending to latitude 61° north, near the Great Slave Lake, and it is to be looked for in the 

 Upper Yukon region and thereabout. 



At Pnget Sound Mr. Henshaw found these birds abundant and saw them frequenting the 

 exposed reefs, where they gathered shell-fish during low tide, and carried them high over the 

 rocks to drop and break the shell, thus rendering the contents more accessible. This was repeated 

 again and again and appeared to be their ordinary manner of feeding. 



PicicoRVUS COLXJMBIANUS (Wils.). Clarke's Nutcracker. 



Since the capture of a single Sitkan specimen taken in August by Bischoff, no Alaskan record 

 of this bird has been made. It is likely to be found all along the heavily-wooded coast region 

 from British Columbia, where we learn it is an abundant species, north to the beginning of the 

 peninsula of Ali;iska, since this entire stretch of coast region has approximately the same charac- 

 teristics. 



The first account of the nesting of this species was given by Mr. Lord, who found a nest at 

 Fort Colville, Wash. The eggs of this nest, however, were destroyed by felling the tree, so the 

 description of the eggs and a satisfactory account of the nest still remained to be made, and it 

 was only a comparatively short time since that Captain Bendire was able to throw farther light 

 upon this interesting subject. In the vicinityof Camp Harney, Oregon, on April 22, and again on 

 the 27th of this month, in 187G, nests of this jay were found by him. The first nest ho obtained 

 upon the extremity of a pine branch about 25 feet from the ground, and well protected from view 

 by the longer branches projecting both above and below the nest. It was bulky, like all the 

 others he found. The nest proper rested upon a platform of small sticks of white sage placed upon 

 pino branches, and is composed of dry grass, vegetable fibers, and the fine inner bark of the western 



