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Corvus corax principalis. Northern Raven — Along the 
northeast coast of Cape Breton, between Englishtown and Neil’s 
Harbor, I found Ravens fairly common. Four or five were seen 
nearly every day. In searching for some good field mark to dis- 
tinguish this species from the Crow, I found that the shape of the 
tail was diagnostic. The tail of the Crow when spread, or partly 
spread is evenly and but very slightly rounded, for the length of the 
outer feathers is nearly the same as that of the middle ones. In 
the Raven, however, the middle feathers are noticeably longer than 
the outer, and the gradation between the two or four middle feathers 
and those outside is especially marked. I found that the tail of a 
Corvus, once well seen, always showed definitely whether the bird 
was corax principalis or brachyrhynchos, and the croak or caw, 
if afterwards heard, always confirmed the diagnosis. The harsh 
croak of the Raven is of course always diagnostic. I have noted 
it as crrroak, crrraa and crrrulc, and once near the top of Smoky 
I was startled with a coarse cry that sounded like helup. As is well 
known, the larger size of the Raven is of but little help in distin- 
guishing the two species, unless they are near together for direct 
comparison. Neither is the greater tendency of the Raven to sail 
or soar conclusive for this purpose, for Crows at times disport 
themselves in similar fashion. 
The road to Ingonish winds along near the summit of Mount 
Smoky, and gives an unobstructed view into a huge ravine which 
nearly divides the great rocky mass into two parts, the sea lying 
close at hand on the east. This is a favorite resort for Ravens, and 
one can look down on the great birds showing glossy and purplish 
in the sunlight as they sail from one side of the ravine to the other. 
A couple of these birds sailed over this ravine, one close above the 
other, and as I watched them with my glasses, the lower bird turned 
completely on its back and both birds grappled for an instant in 
mid air. Later at Ingonish I saw a similar performance, but in 
this case the upper bird dropped its feet first, and the lower at once 
turned over to grapple with it. 
At F rench River one morning I watched four Ravens performing 
some interesting evolutions about the cliffs. Each in turn or to- 
gether would fly up almost vertically against the wind, and then 
swooping or darting down turned at times a complete somersault. 
That evening four Ravens, possibly the same birds, flew by hoarsely 
croaking and sailed off to the woods beyond the river. 
by , 
33. Corvus corax principalis. Northern Raven. — Fairly common, ' 
