420 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



tained younglings, and a nest, May nth, 1889, had four eggs in- 

 cubated. They breed in Mount Royal park and all over the island 

 of Montreal. The bulk of the crows in this district migrate south 

 before the month of December. (Wintle.) On June 6th, 1884, 

 at Binscarth on the upper Assiniboine, I found a crow's nest in a 

 bluff of poplar trees. It was in a crotch of a large poplar, about 

 8 feet from the ground, and was one of the most beautiful speci- 

 mens of bird architecture I ever examined, excluding, of course, 

 all pensile nests. It was a large structure of sticks, twigs and 

 bark strips, with a very deep cavity lined with fine fibres and beauti- 

 fully finished off with a coating of cow's hair. It contained four 

 eggs. (E. T. Seton.) This species frequently nests in firs and 

 spruces near Ottawa. Its nests are built of sticks and twigs, lined 

 with moss, strips of bark and fine grass. Eggs, four to six; green, 

 spotted with blackish-brown. (G. R. White). Nests taken on 

 June 2nd, 1895, a mile up the west fork of Old Wives creek, con- 

 tained four fresh eggs. The base of the nest was of coarse sticks 

 and the inside was lined with the inner bark of ash-leaved maple, 

 in which tree it was built. Other nests were taken in thickets of 

 willow and other brush in many parts of the prairie. (Macoun.) 

 March 2nd, 1902, a crow was seen to be carrjdng nesting material 

 at Fredericton ; even at that time migration had hardly begun, 

 this being a bird that had remained in that vicinity all winter. I 

 have found a full set of crow's eggs April 21st. At one time a nest 

 was found and both birds were sitting on the eggs. The cavity of the 

 nest was much larger than ordinarily. Thinking when seeing both 

 birds fly from the nest they might be two females la3dng in one nest, 

 I climbed and found that the nest contained five nearly incubated 

 eggs. A nest was found here containing ten eggs. {W. H. Moore.) 



4886. California Crow. 



Corvus hrachyrhynchus hesperis Ridgway. 1887. 



Western North America from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific 

 coast, except coast district from Strait of Fuca and Puget sound 

 northward ; north in the interior to Fort St. James, B.C. (Ridgway.) 

 Two or three pairs were noted, mostly near Crane lake, Sask. Bishop 

 says, "an adult male taken at Walsh, July 12th is smaller, with 

 small"*- bill than southern Cahfornia examples of hesperis. (A. C. 



