PASSERES— CORVIDAE— PICICORVUS COLUMBIANUS. 329 



Kennerly, P. R. R. Rep., Whipple's Route, x, 1859, 32.— Henry, Proo. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., 1859, 108 (New Mexico).— Coop. & SuCKL., P. R. R, 

 Rep., xii, pt, ii, 1860, 1212.— Hayd., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, xii, 1S62, 171.— 

 COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci. Phila., 1800, 91 (Fort Whipple, Ariz.).— 

 Cooper, Birds Cal., i, 1870, 289.— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1870, 

 405.— Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1872, 178.— Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 

 1872, 162, f. 104.— Hold, apud Aiken, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat, Hist., 1872, 

 203. — Bd.. Brew., & Ridg., N. A. Birds, ii, 1874, 255, pi. xxxviii. — Yar- 

 row, Rep. Orn. S[>ecs., 1871, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 35.— Yarrow & 

 Henshaw, Rep. Ore. Specs., 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 20. — HENSHAW, 

 An. Lye. Nat. Hist, N.Y.,xi, 1874, l.—Id., An. List Birds Utah, 1872, Wheel- 

 er's Exped., 1874, 40.-/(7., Rep. Orn. Specs., 1873, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 

 83, 122.— Coues, B. North w., 1874, 207.— Coues, Ibis, 1S72, 52 (biography). 



At all seasons, Clarke's Crow is an inhabitant of the high mount- 

 ainous districts of the West; it being found, it is said, never lower than 3,000 

 feet, and its home extending upward, according to the season, to at least 

 12,000 feet, at which altitude it has been noted by our parties in summer on 

 several occasions. Between these extremes, it is everywhere to be met with ; 

 and though showing, so far as I have noticed, no special preference for 

 locality, it appears to shun the interior of the dense pine forests, and to be 

 most numerous in the more open, broken, and rugged tracts, less heavily 

 timbered, on the mountain sides. Its habits vary very much according to 

 the nature of its surroundings, and the character of the food it may chance 

 to be in search of when under observation. Dr. Coues mentions its habit 

 of hammering on the dead limbs precisely like a woodpecker, " the loud 

 rattling being audible at a great distance." This has not been, I believe, the 

 experience of any other observer, though I can confirm it in part, as I have 

 several times been misled by the sound of a vigorous hammering on a dry 

 branch, and on looking for the supposed woodpecker have found Clarke's 

 Crow busily at work, hammering to fragments one of the seeds of the conifers, 

 of which they are so fond. If in habits they resemble the crows, jays, and 

 woodpeckers, possessing in part certain peculiarities of each, their notes are 

 their own, and the succession of hoarse rattling notes which the bird utters 

 as it moves about is mistakable for that of no other bird. 



In 1872, not observed until September 8, when a pair were noticed at 

 Otter Creek, Middle Utah. From this time until the middle of October, it 

 was seen almost daily, singly and in flocks. It was invariably on the wing, 



