410 LIFE HISTOEIBS OF NORTH AMEEICAN BIEDS. 



distributed, while in southern Arizona and New Mexico they are rare. Mr. F. 

 Ste^jhens writes me that he saw Crows on Big Sandj Ci:eek, 60 miles east of 

 Fort Mojave, Arizona, in February, 1880, and that he shot a specimen on the 

 Mimbres River, southern New Mexico, in April, 1876. I shot a male near 

 Tucson, Ai-izona, on April 13, 1872, but saw very few others, and failed to find it 

 breeding- there. 



The longevity of the Crow has been generally admitted, and I had always 

 thought theywere extremely hardj^; but this seems to be questionable. During 

 January, 1893, large nvimbers perished in the vicinity of Washington, District 

 of Columbia, from having the cornea frozen during the cold, weather occurring 

 about that time, which resulted in blindness and starvation. Mr. Robert Ridg- 

 way, of the Smithsonian Institution, showed me a number he had picked up, and 

 assured me that hundreds could be seen laying around in the vicinity, while 

 many others were partly blind.^ 



Dr. M. G. Ellzey, writing from Cumberstone, Maryland, reports the same 

 occurrence in that vicinity, and believes many thousands perished in this 

 manner.^ 



I have only once seen a wild bird partly blind. This was in 1881, while 

 stationed at Fort Walla Walla, Washington. A Western Horned Owl was brought 

 to me alive by one of my men, who, while out hunting, saw it and tried to get 

 within reach to shoot it. It heard him approaching, and in attempting to fly 

 away was stunned by striking a tree. It fell down, and before it recovered he 

 captured it. One of its eyes was in the same condition as those of the Wash- 

 ington Crows, and the other was likewise affected, but it was still able to see a 

 little oiit of it. The bird was in poor condition, but not near starvation. I kept 

 it for many weeks, and it soon became remarkably tame and gentle, a very 

 unusual thing for birds of this species, and finally I sent it alive to a friend at 

 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, for examination, and it reached 

 its destination safely. 



The only plausible reason I can assign for this affliction of the Crows found 

 by Mr. Ridgway is that while returning from their feeding grounds they were 

 compelled to face an extremely cold and penetrating wind, and having to keep 

 their eyes open to see where they were going, they were frozen. A strange fact 

 was discovered in this connection. Neither Mr. Ridgway nor- his companions 

 could discover a single dead Fish Crow among the many specimens examined, 

 although they were well represented among those flying about. 



The Crow has a variety of call notes, and is rather noisy at times. The one 

 most frequently heard is a harsh "cawh, cawh," and again a "krah, krah," 

 besides a number of other muffled sounds, generally uttered while at rest at the 

 roost. They are graceful birds on the wing, especially so during the mating 

 season, when pairs, while chasing each other around, may be seen performing all 

 sorts of aerial evolutions, turning complete summersaults, now flying on one 



' For a fuller account see Scieuce, Feb. 10, 1893. 

 'See Forest and Stream, March. 16, 1893. 



