486 COEVID^. 



Pam. COB.YTDM *. 

 Subfam. COBVINJE. 



Alee elongatse, acutae, cauda plerumque brevis. 



CORVUS. 



Corms, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 155 (1766); Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B, ii. p. 232; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 13. 



So far as America is concerned Corvus is a Nearctic genus, well represented by 

 several species in North America, of which at least three are found within our limits, 

 viz. : — the Haven (C. corax) as far south as Honduras ; the peculiar Mexican C. mexiccmus, 

 whose range seems restricted to a limited district in Western Mexico ; and G. crypto- 

 leucus, which occurs in the northern frontier States of Mexico. Two of these, viz. 

 C. corax and C. cryptoleucus, are typical species of Corvus, whilst C.mexicanus belongs 

 to the section Corone, which Mr. Sharpe treats as a separate genus. 



Corvus has been so often characterized that it seems superfluous to do so here ; but 

 we may remark that we use the name in the wide sense as employed by Messrs. Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway, keeping the Ravens, with their long lanceolate, narrow throat- 

 feathers, and the Crows, in which these feathers are of normal shape, under one generic 

 name. Greater diversity of form is found in members of this section of the family in 

 other parts of the world than in America, and these have been treated of by Mr. Sharpe, 

 who has given an elaborate key of the genera. This key strikes us as rather artificial 

 in some respects, bringing into proximity forms not really by any means related. 



1. Corvus corax. 



Corvus corax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 155'; Cones, B. N. W, p. 204°; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 



iii. p. 14 '. 

 Carms carnivorus, Bartr. Trav. E. Florida, p. 290*; Sol. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 252'; Dresser, Ibis, 



1865, p. 494'; Duges, La Nat. i. p. 139'. 

 Corvus corax, var. carnivorus, Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 234'; Lawr. Mem. Bost. 



Soc. N. H. ii. p. 283 ° ; BuU. U. S, Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 25 ". 

 Corvus sinuatus, Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 748 ". 



Corvus corax sinuatus, Check-List N. Am. B. p. 245 " ; Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p. 153 ". 

 Corvus cacalotl, Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 527"; Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 115"; Consp. Av. i. p. 387"; 



Sol. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 21"; 1860, p. 34 '^ Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 112"; Sumichrast,, 



Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 553"°. 

 Corvus nobilis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 79"; Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 386". 

 Nitente purpureo niger, unicolor ; plumis ad basin griseis ; gidae plumis lanceolatis elongatis ; rostro et pedibns 



* We are largely indebted, in writing on this family, to Mr. Sharpe's ' Catalogue of the Birds of the British 

 Museum,' vol. iii., wherein the Corvidae of the world are. treated of. 



