56 BIRDS OF ARKANSAS. 



Raven. Corvus corax sinuatus. 



Ravens formerly occurred rarely in the mountains of Arkansas 

 and there may still be a few remaining in the wilder and more inac- 

 cessible parts. Pleas reported in 1890 that they bred on cliffs in the 

 highest hills of Van Buren County, near Copeland, and Monroe 

 reported them breeding in the region about Newport in 1884 — 

 probably in the hills to the westward. 



Crow. Corvus brachyrhynchos. 



Crows are generally distributed in the State in both summer and 

 winter, but apparently are nowhere very abundant. They are re- 

 ported to breed at Clinton (rare), Newport, Helena (rare), and Delight 

 (uncommon). I noted them in small numbers at Cotter, Womble, 

 Mena, Pettigrew, and Chester, and at Conway and Mammoth Spring 

 they were fairly numerous. With the exception of 3 or 4 in the heron 

 rookery at Walker Lake, none were seen in the bottom lands of eastern 

 Arkansas. In winter the species is recorded as rare at Stuttgart, 

 Clinton, Van Buren, Helena, and Fayetteville. 



The crow subsists on a great variety of food. Careful study of its 

 diet by the Biological Survey shows that about 26 per cent of its food 

 consists of insects, mainly injurious species, about 21 per cent of corn, 

 and the rest of various grains, nuts, seeds, etc. 



Clarke Nutcracker. Nucifraga columbiana. 



The only record of this bird's occurrence in Arkansas is given by 

 Mr. Robert H. Mitchell, who states that a specimen was killed at 

 Earl, Crittenden County, about April 1, 189 1. 1 The species inhabits 

 the mountains of the western United States, and is only a straggler 

 east of Colorado and the Black Hills. 



Bobolink. Dolichonyx oryzivorus. 



The bobolink, or "ricebird," as it is called in the South, is an 

 irregular migrant in the Mississippi Valley, and probably never is so 

 abundant as on the Atlantic coast. Its summer home is on the 

 prairies from northern Missouri northward and in the northeastern 

 States. Migrating flocks have been observed at Helena, May 13, 

 1894, and April 20, 1904, and at Newport it was reported abundant 

 in 1884 from May 7 to 19. At Stuttgart, May 11 to 14, 1910, I saw 

 several hundred birds, mostly males, in flocks numbering 10 to 20. 

 No records of its fall migration are at hand, but the species is known 

 to leave Missouri the latter part of August and arrive in southern 

 Louisiana between September 1 and 15. A decidedly useful bird in 

 its northern home, the bobolink becomes a serious pest when it reaches 

 the rice fields of the South Atlantic States. It may prove injurious 



i Auk, XI, p. 327, 1894. 



