96 



AMERICAN RAVEN— COMMON CROW. 



by 1.60 inches. The food of this Duck consists of small fry, cray- 

 fishes, and the coarse grasses which grow upon the banks of streams 

 and ponds. It is an expert diver, and when wounded will fre- 

 quently dive and cling to rocks or weeds on the bottom of the stream 

 and remain there until life is extinct. According to Audubon, when 

 these birds travel, their flight is steady, rather laborious, but greatly 

 protracted. The whistling of their wings is heard at a considerable 

 distance when they are passing overhead. At this time they usu- 

 ally move in a broad front, sometimes in a continuous line. At the 

 approach of spring the male bird pays his addresses to the female 

 before they set out on their journey. 



PLATE LXVII. 



The Raven. (Corvus corax.) 

 Fig. 1. 



But few birds have a more familiar history than the Raven. In- 

 habiting the earth before the appearance of man, its geographical 

 range is quite as extensive. Differing in a distinguishable degree 

 from its European congener, the American Raven is beyond ques- 

 tion related to it as a variety. Though found in nearly every State 

 in the Union, they are rarely met with in the Eastern States except 

 in favored localities. Among the romantic lakes of the Adirondack 

 region, along the banks of the Hudson, on the shores of New Jer- 

 sey, and in the wilds of Maine, they are of frequent occurrence. 

 They are found in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and in Texas alone, 

 of the Gulf States. They are common throughout the entire Arctic 

 regions, following the musk-ox, reindeer, and other animals of the 

 fur countries, where they endure the intensest cold. Lewis and 

 Clark observed them at Fort Mandan, when the thermometer stood 

 at 45 below zero. Though frequently observed north of latitude 

 69 , the}' have never been known to breed beyond that line. Along 

 the Pacific coast, throughout Washington Territory, California, 

 Arizona, and on the deserts, prairies and mountains of the Western 

 States, they are numerous. They seem inimicable to the Crow; 

 where one abounds the other is rarely seen. 



The Raven is only partially gregarious. During the day they 

 are usually seen in pairs. When, however, some favorite carrion 

 is found, attracted to it by sight and smell, they flock to it in great 

 numbers. At night, during the winter season, they select some 

 one roosting-place, usually a clump of tall trees, or, if near the sea- 

 shore, some inaccessible cliff, and occupy it in immense numbers. 

 Early in the morning a little before sunrise, they fly in pairs to their 

 breeding places. By the first of April they are mated, and seek 

 secluded mountainous spots in which to breed. Dr. Brewer men- 

 tions a nest in which were ten eggs, found on the 10th of April, 

 when the snow was quite deep. These nests are constructed of 

 sticks, coarse twigs, moss, and grass, and are lined with hair, bits 

 of fur, and fine leaves. They are very bulky and irregular in shape, 

 and are quite as large as a bushel basket, with a deep cavity in the 

 center. From six to eight eggs, of a faded green color, marked 

 with cloudings of a faint purple, or sometimes blotched with a deep 

 purple brown, about 2. by 1.75 inches, are laid, and after about 

 twenty days' incubation the young are hatched. 



The Raven is omnivorous in its diet. MacGillivray gives the 

 following bill of fare, which will apply to this bird wherever found : 

 "Young hares, rabbits, rats, moles, mice, the young of poultry, 

 pheasants, grouse, ducks, geese, eggs of all kinds, echini, mollusca, 

 fruit, barley, wheat, oats, Crustacea, grubs, worms, and fish." But 

 few birds have so varied a diet. 



In sagacity the American Raven is equal to his European peer. 

 All naturalists and sportsmen accord him unwonted intelligence. 

 They thoroughly understand the use of fire-arms, and while a per- 



son unarmed may get within a few rods of them, they possess the 

 traditional faculty of smelling gunpowder, and keep a proper dis- 

 tance from it. Their flesh is extremely rank and unsavory, and 

 is avoided even by wild animals. 



The literature of the Raven is the most extensive of any relating 

 to birds. Primitive man everywhere endowed him with mysterious 

 intelligence. He was the first bird sent out by Noah after the 

 landing on the peaks of Ararat. He was selected by God to feed 

 the prophet in the wilderness. In the Koran, he taught Cain how 

 to dispose of murdered Abel, by killing a bird and burying it be- 

 fore his eyes. In the Scandinavian mythology, two Ravens, Mem- 

 ory and Thought, sit on each shoulder of Odin, and fly over the 

 world for the purpose of bringing him intelligence. In the myths 

 of the Greeks and Romans it plays a like conspicuous part, and 

 anecdotes of its sagacity are to be met with everywhere. 



Common Crow. (Corvus americanus.) 

 Fig. 2. 



This Crow is found in great abundance throughout the Eastern 

 States, extending west to the Mississippi, and in summer migrating 

 to the Arctic region. It is not known to occur in California. But 

 few birds have been so persistently hunted as this. In many States, 

 bounties have been offered for his destruction ; but so wary and wise 

 is he, that, notwithstanding, he holds his own, if he does not in- 

 crease in numbers. The Crow breeds from April to June, varying 

 with the latitude which he selects for the purpose of incubation. 

 The nest is usually built in the topmost branches of some inacces- 

 sible pine or hemlock, and is made first of a layer of coarse twigs 

 and sticks, then a layer of fine bark intermixed with mosses and 

 bunches of grass, the whole lined with hair, fine fibres of the ever- 

 greens, and kindred material. The eggs are four in number, of 

 various shades of green, covered with blotches and spots of differ- 

 ent browns, and measuring about 1.60 by 1.12 inches. 



Recently the question — Is the Crow the farmer's friend or enemy? 

 has been very fully discussed, and is yet not definitely settled. By 

 his anatomy and physiology the Crow is about as nearly omnivorous 

 as a bird can well be, and we therefore find him appropriating all 

 kinds of food, whether animal or vegetable. In various numbers 

 of the American Naturalist it is asserted that he will attack our 

 barn}"ard chickens and carry them off, and that he is a constant 

 depredator on the young and eggs of our smaller birds. Mr. Sam- 

 uels, in his Birds of New England, devotes many pages to the dis- 

 cussion of the Crow's utility, and makes out a fearful debit against 

 him, numbering nearly five thousand units, while the credit side 

 shows but two hundred and twenty-nine units. But this author 

 draws largely upon his imagination, giving each Crow a daily bill 

 of fare of a dozen smaller birds. 



During early spring, the Crow is one of the most beneficial of 

 birds, his food at that time consisting of carrion and noxious insects. 

 It destroys in immense numbers the young of grasshoppers, which 

 are found in pasture lands and meadows as soon as the snow leaves 

 the ground. It is not until later that they make depredations which 

 waken the granger's ire. During the month of May the Crow dis- 

 plays a wonderful fondness for sprouting corn, and then needs con- 

 stant watching. Dr. Brewer tells us that in the West they are not 

 known to make any raids upon the cornfields, and are regarded as 

 benefactors, receiving protection and good treatment ; and that in 

 that region they evince none of that wariness which makes them so 

 difficult to approach in the East. 



The Crow becomes easily domesticated when captured young, 

 and proves an interesting as well as mischievous pet. It learns to 

 articulate sounds. Dr. Brewer mentions one that learned to play 

 hide-and-seek with a family of children, invariably surpassing them 

 in the game. Many amusing anecdotes are told of him, and his 

 place in mythological lore is quite as extensive as that of the Raven. 



