406 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



more than made up by its abundance in others, especially in our Eastern States 

 and the Mississippi Valley generally. I have always held that our western Crows 

 constituted a good subspecies and still believe so, but nevertheless follow the 

 nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. While our western birds 

 vary considerably in size, I think comparative measurements of a number of 

 specimens taken from different localities west of the Rocky Mountains will show 

 that they average smaller, and I find the same to be the case with a large series 

 of the eggs. I am also of the opinion that their call notes differ to some extent, 

 but may be mistaken in this. Their plumage is more or less variable, and is less 

 glossy than that of eastern birds, especially during the breeding season. The 

 western Crows, in some sections at least, seem also to be more sociable ; at Fort 

 Lapwai, Idaho, for instance, I have occasionally found them breeding in what 

 might be called small colonies, and this was not due to scarcity of timber for 

 nesting purposes ; in fact, I once saw here three occupied nests in a single small 

 birch tree, where a number of good-sized cottonwood trees were to be found 

 close by and equally suitable. Such a degree of sociability I have never 

 observed anywhere among the eastern Crows during the nesting season; but it 

 seems also to be unusual in the West, as I noticed it nowhere else. 



Some of these western birds are also said to nest occasionally on the ground, 

 a mode of nidification seemingly entirely at variance with the habits of the 

 eastern Crows. Such an instance is recorded by Mr. E. H. Forbush in "Forest 

 and Stream," April 4, 1889, in an article entitled "Five Days a Savage," where 

 he reports finding a crow's nest, containing three young, on the ground on a 

 small barren island in the Gulf of Georgia, British Columbia, which, however, 

 may have been one of Corvus caurinus, the Northwest Crow. Again, among 

 a collection of eggs sent to the United States National Museum by Mr. R. Mac- 

 Farlane, made in the vicinity of Fort St. James, British Columbia, is a set of 

 four unmistakable Crow's eggs, brought in by an Indian for those of Franklin's 

 Grouse, and taken on May 2, 1889, from a nest placed on the ground, under the 

 spreading limbs of a small spruce bush. 



In the United States the Crow is a regular resident south of latitude 42°, 

 but not a few winter in suitable localities at points considerably farther north, 

 while on the Pacific Coast they are resident throughout the year. In the late 

 fall all the Crows in a certain section congregate and select some suitable piece 

 of woods, generally at no great distance from some good-sized stream, where 

 they roost in companies, often many thousands in number. From these roosts 

 they scatter regularly every morning over the surrounding country in search of 

 food, undoubtedly covering a radius of many miles in their daily flights, and 

 return again in the evening, in small, scattering bodies, to their regular rendez- 

 vous. They may be seen coming in from all points of the compass, the return 

 flight often beginning a couple of hours before the last stragglers arrive. These 

 roosts are probably formed more from sociability than for mutual protection, as 

 the Crow has little to fear from other enemies than man. 



Throughout the Eastern States and the Mississippi River Valley generally 

 the Crows are extremely shy and difficult to approach at all times, while in city 



