THE AMEBIC AN RAVEN. 397 



The American Raven is usually a resident wherever found, but is likely 

 to wander considerable distances in winter, congregating in localities where 

 food is most easily obtained. While as a rule, it is nowhere abundant, it is 

 generally distributed over a large area, and in certain localities it may be 

 called fairly common. I have met with them at every Post at which I have 

 been stationed in the West, but nowhere so abundantly as at Camp Harney, 

 Oregon, where I had excellent opportunities to observe them. 



They are stately and rather sedate-looking birds, remain mated through 

 life, and are seemingly very much attached to each other, but apparently more 

 unsocial to others of their kind. On the ground their movements are deliberate 

 and dignified; their walk is graceful and seldom varied with hun-ied hops or 

 jumps. They appear to still better advantage on the wing, especially in winter 

 and early spring, when pairs may be frequently seen playing with each other, 

 performing extraordinary feats in the air, such as somersaults, trying to fly on 

 their backs, etc. At this season they seem to enjoy life most and give vent 

 to their usually not very exuberant spirits by a series of low chuckling and 

 gurgling notes, evidently indifferent efforts at singing. 



Their ordinary call note is a loud " craack-craak," varied sometimes by a 

 deep, grunting "koerr-koeiT," and again by a clucking, a sort of self-satisfied 

 sound, difficult to reproduce on paper; in fact, they utter a variety of notes 

 when at ease and undisturbed, among others a metallic-sounding "klunk," 

 which seems to cost them considerable eff'ort. In places where they are not 

 molested they become reasonably tame, and I have seen Ravens occasionally 

 alight in my yard and feed among the chickens, a thing I have never seen 

 Crows do. Their larger size when compared with the latter bird is not so notice- 

 able while on the wing, but on the ground, when feeding among its smaller 

 relatives, it is very perceptible. 



Although a good deal has been written reflecting on the Raven, my per- 

 sonal observations compel me to consider it as a rather orderly member of a 

 somewhat disreputable family group. Among various misdeeds it is charged 

 with killing young lambs, chickens, and turkeys, as well as with destroying the 

 eggs and young of different species of wild fowl ; and while this is true to some 

 extent, yet where these bii'ds can get a reasonable amount of food from other 

 sources they rarely disturb domestic animals of any sort. I have more than once 

 seen a Raven feeding among my poultry, apparently on friendly terms with both 

 young and old; they never molested any to my knowledge; nor have I ever 

 heard complaints of shepherds that their lambs were troubled, much less killed, 

 by them. Their food consists principally of carrion, dead fish, and frogs, varied 

 with insects of different kinds, including grasshoppers and the large black crickets 

 so abundant at some seasons in the West; they also eat worms, mussels, snails, 

 small rodents, including young rabbits, as well as refuse from the kitchen and 

 slaughterhouse. While the American Raven appears to be a well-behaved bu-d 

 in some localities, this is by no means the case everywhere. Mr. Charles A. 

 Allen, writing me on this subject from Nicasio, California, says: "In the 



