THE CROW AND ITS RELATION" TO MAN". 3 
the term " crow," there is considerable uncertainty as to identification 
in regions where the bird is scarce or where its range overlaps that of 
closely related species. Ordinarily little distinction is made by 
residents of the South Atlantic coast between the common crow and 
the fish crow, a bird of quite different habits; and similar confusion 
exists among nonornithologists of the northwestern coast, where the 
other maritime form, the northwestern crow, mingles with the com- 
mon species. In the Southwest the small white-necked raven fre- 
quently passes under the appellation of crow, and in some other parts 
of the West even the larger ravens have been misnamed. 
Inasmuch as it is contemplated eventually to issue reports on the 
economic status of all members of the genus Corvus, which includes 
both crows and ravens, it seems well to define clearly the systematic 
position and range of the common crow, the one of which this bul- 
letin treats. Eleven subspecifically different forms of the genus 
Corvus have been recorded from North America and Greenland. The 
ranges of nine of these come within the borders of the United States. 
The other two forms are the rook (Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus) and 
the hooded crow (Corvus comix Linnseus), both of which have oc- 
curred in Greenland. Of the ravens three are found in the United 
States. The northern raven (Corvus cor ax principalis Ridgway), a 
more or less arctic race, occurs along the northern border and at the 
higher altitudes, while the common raven (C. c. sinuatus Wagler) is 
a more abundant form in the Western States. The white-necked 
raven (C. cryptoleucus Couch) occupies part of the southwestern 
desert regions. By far the most numerous species of this genus in 
the United States is the common crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos 
brachyrhynchos Brehm), which, with the three closely related sub- 
species, the Florida crow (C. h. pascuus Coues), the southern crow 
(C. b. paulus Howell), 1 and the western crow (C. b. hesperis Ridg- 
way), gives practically a transcontinental range to the species. 
Corvus b. brachyrhynchos Brehm extends its breeding range north- 
ward nearly to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, northern Mani- 
toba, central Quebec, and Newfoundland. It may be found from the 
Atlantic coast westward to Montana, Wyoming, central Nebraska, 
Kansas, and Texas, The limit of its range on the west, however, 
can not be stated satisfactorily, as in the western part of the Plains 
the crow is merely a rare and erratic breeder. The western crow 
(C. b. hesperis Ridgway) is found in the Pacific Coast States and 
eastward to eastern British Columbia, Montana, and Texas. The 
southern crow (C. b. paulus Howell) has a range extending through- 
out the Gulf States east of central Texas and northward as far as the 
iProc. Biol. Soc, Washington, XXVI, pp. 199-202, Oct. 23, 1913. 
