May, 1893. J 



BIRDS OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 



71 



slaughter bouse feeding on the refuse. In Death Valley they were ob- 

 served by every party that visited the place from the first week in Jan- 

 uary to the last in June. In the Ooso Mountains, two adults with their 

 five young were seen flying high in the air May 25, the old birds being 

 readily distinguished by their worn primaries. 



In Nevada they were common at Ash Meadows and Pahrump Valley, 

 and at the latter place a pair was secured the last of February. Dr. 

 Merriam observed one, together with a large nest, on the shelf of a 

 high cliff in Vegas Wash, May 3. He found ravens tolerably common 

 about the Bend of the Colorado, May 4, and saw several in the Valley 

 of the Virgin, near Bunkerville, May 85 others in the Juniper Moun- 

 tains, May 19; in Desert Valley, May 20, and in Pahranagat Valley, 

 May 22-20. In Utah he found several pairs in the Lower Santa Clara 

 Valley, May 11-15, and thence northward to Mountain Meadows, where 

 several were seen May 17. 



Ravens were common all through Owens Valley. At Walker Basin 

 flocks of several hundred were observed every day flying about the 

 fields and roads, feeding on the grasshoppers which occurred in vast 

 numbers there. All the specimens shot had nothing in their stomachs 

 except the remains of these insects. Dr. Merriam and Mr. Palmer ob- 

 served large numbers catching grasshoppers in the western part of the 

 Mohave Desert, known as Antelope Valley, June 27-28, and near Gor- 

 man Station no less than forty-four were seen catching grasshoppers 

 on the grassy hillsides at one time. 



In the High Sierra ravens were seen at Menache, Whitney, and Big 

 Cottonwood meadows, and at the head of Owens Biver. Mr. Nelson 

 saw a few about Mount Pihos and at Buena Vista Lake in October, and 

 found them sparingly along the route from San Simeon to Carpenteria 

 and Santa Paula, in November and December. 



Record of specimens collected of Corvus corax simtatus. 



Col 



lector's 



No. 



Sex. 



Locality. 



Date. 



Collector. 



Remarks. 



113 



114 



? 



s 



Lone Willow Spring, Calif 



Paliruinp V alley, Calif 



do ' 



Jan. 14,1801 

 Feb. 24,1891 

 ...do 



E. W. Nelson 



A. K. Fisher 

 do .. 















Corvus americanus. Crow. 



At one place only was the common crow seen by any member of the 

 expedition east of the Sierra Nevada. In Pahrump Valley, Nevada, a, 

 flock of crows kept around the ranch during February and March. 



At Bakersfield, in the San Joaquin Valley, crows were common along 

 the river bottoms, in flocks of from five to fifty, July 17-20. Crows 

 were observed among the oaks at Visalia, July 23, and a flock of about 

 one hundred was seen and a specimen secured near Three Rivers, the 

 latter part of the same month. Dr. Merriam saw a flock of half a 



