414 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



164. Corvus caurinus Baird. 



NORTHWEST CROW. 



Corvus caurinus Baibd, Birds North America, 1858, 569. 



(B 428, 2286, R 2826, C 342, U 489.) 



GrBOGRAPHiCAL RANGE: Northwestern coast districts; from Oregon north to south- 

 ern Alaska (Kadiak Island). 



From about the mouth of the Columbia River north along the coast of 

 Washington and British Columbia to southern Alaska a small, short-legged, and 

 rather dull-colored Crow is found, which there holds about the same relation 

 to the Common Crow as does the Fish Crow on the Atlantic coast, both spe- 

 cies inhabiting the same regions, the Northwest Crow predominating, however. 

 During a visit to the shores of Puget Sound, in May, 1894, I was able to satisfy 

 myself of this fact, and while the somewhat larger Crows of the interior are 

 also found as far west as the Sound, I do not believe that the true Northwest 

 Crow ever passes inland much beyond tide water. Although I observed these 

 birds carefully, I could not detect any very marked difference in their general 

 habits or call notes; if such really exist, they are not nearly so noticeable as 

 are those between the American and Fish Crow on the Atlantic coast. The 

 statement of Mr. J. K. Lord, naturalist of the Boundary Survey between the 

 United States and British Columbia, quoted in Volume II, "History of North 

 American Birds," by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (page 251), that "this Crow 

 retired to the interior to breed, and built a domed nest," is entirely erroneous. 

 I have traveled a great deal over the same regions that Mr. Lord did, but my 

 observations do not warrant me in corroborating this statement; none of our 

 Crows build domed nests, but the American Magpie, which is common in the 

 interior of Washington, does, and he mistook their nests for those of the North- 

 west Crow. 



Mr. R. H. Lawrence writes me: "The Northwest Crow is very common in 

 western Washington, and especially abundant on the coast in winter. At South 

 Bend, Pacific County, Washington, in February, 1892, great flocks of this species 

 could be heard when their rendezvous was several miles away on the Willapa 

 River. These flocks had many disputes with the GruUs, large numbers of which 

 remained in and about town. Often the greater portion of both species seemed 

 engaged in these noisy controversies. The GruUs certainly held the town, though 

 a few straggling Crows were now and then seen in it. At the slaughterhouses 

 on the prairies below the town I saw a flock of Crows drive off a number of 

 Gulls, but probably the latter were rather listless after eating heartily of the 

 offal. A flock of about one hundred and twenty were noticed February 7, 1892; 

 a few were perched apart on a tree or snag, uttering strange sounds, like 'koo- 

 wow, kow-wow, koo-wow,' the last syllable drawled and accented or emphasized; 

 then, with a slight spreading of the shoulders and the tail, the head being down 

 and the tail drooped, they produced by a curious chattering of the bill a sound 

 (not made in the throat, I judged) which resembled that of horny plates struck 



