251 
85. ScolecopTiagus cyanocephalus , (Wagl.).—Brewer’s Blackbird. 
A very abundant species throughout the State and a constant resident. In summer 
they prefer the neighborhood of the streams to the marshes proper, though found in 
the latter in company with the Tri-colored Blackbirds, there existing between the two 
species an unusually close intimacy. Many of these birds were breeding in company 
with a large colony of the A. tricolor before mentioned. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Collector. 
320 
627 
9 
? ad. 
Fort Tejon, Cal. 
Aug. 8 
Oct. 27 
H. W. Hensbaw... 
.do. 
Near Kernville, Cal. 
Corvidae.—Crows. 
86. Corvus corax, Linn., var. carnivorus, Baxtr.—American Raven. 
The Raven is an abundant resident in California, and is found without much refer¬ 
ence to locality. Its omnivorous tastes and its great usefulness as a scavenger are 
well known. I saw Ravens occasionally on Santa Cruz Island, and, on inquiry, learned 
that they were no favorites with the sheep-raisers here, on account of their habit of 
occasionally destroying the lambs. Captain Forney informed me that he had been an 
eye-witness to the destruction of a lamb by one of these birds, the attack being made 
first upon the eyes, which were torn out. This habit of the Raven, he states, was well 
known to the shepherds. 
87. Corvus caurinus, (Bd.).—Western Fish-Crow. 
Corvus caurinus , B(l., B. N. A., 1858, 569.—Coop. & Suckl., P. R. R. Rep., voL xii, pt. ii. 1860, 211. — 
Dali & Bann., Tr. Cbic. Acad., i, 1869, 286.—Coop., B. Cal., i, 1870, 285.—B., B., & R., N. A. B., 
ii, 1874, 248.—Bendire, Proc. Boat. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xviii, 1876, 159 (Camp Harney, Oreg.). 
Corvus americanus var. caurinus , Coues, Key N. A. B., 1872,163. 
Corvus ossifragus, Newb., P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 83. 
In the uncertainty respecting the relations of this bird, I am disposed to keep it 
apart from the Corvus americanus, with which it has been associated as a variety by 
some writers, till its relationship be established on a firmer basis than at present. It 
appears to be mainly distinguishable from its smaller size aud certain apparent differ¬ 
ences of habits. I regret I can add so little to our knowledge of the subject. On 
the road from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, these Crows were seen on several occasions, 
always in large flocks, and at a distance from the coast of from 5 to 15 miles. In fact, 
in Southern California, the species does not appear to be specially all maritime in its 
habits, if, indeed, it is so to more than a moderate extent. In its northern home, how¬ 
ever, on Puget Sound and elsewhere, it is essentially a bird of the coast, living there 
upon shell-fish and the refuse cast up by the waves. 
In my own brief experience in California I saw nothing in their manner incompati¬ 
ble with the normal habits of the Common Crow. In this respect, however, it is not 
different from the Fish-Crow ( ossifragus ) of the Gulf States, which, save in its maritime 
proclivities, presents little to distinguish its habits from those of the Common Crow ; 
yet the Fish Crow in Florida is found very often miles away from the coast, while not 
infrequently I have there seen the Corvus americanus associated with it in its excursions 
along shore. The truth seems to be that with birds possessing the omnivorous tastes 
of the Crows, it is the quantity and ease with which food is obtained that directs their 
choice more than anything else. Hence, about Puget Sound and this region gener¬ 
ally, as in the warm waters of Florida, where mollusks and crustaceans exist in greatest 
abundance, the habit of resorting to the shores for the chief part of their living has 
become a fixed one, while elsewhere they fiud it easier to obtain their food from the 
interior. 
The notes of caurinus, as I heard them in California, were different from those of the 
Corvus americanus, and I should say they resemble very closely those of the true Fish 
Crow. Certainly, no one hearing their hoarse calls could for a moment mistake them 
for the Common Crow. Like the Fish Crow, the C. caurinus keeps very much in flocks, 
and it is said to even build in communities. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Collector. 
186 
cf jun. 
Santa Barbara, Cal. 
July 5 
H. "W. Hensbaw. 
