566 
U. S. P. R, R, EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
white for about their basal half. The feathers of the head are plumbeous at the base; the 
greatest intensity of white is on the lower part of the neck; the color fades out on the hack and 
belly into plumbeous. In no other North American crow is there any approach to this cottony 
whiteness. 
This character, with its smaller size, will at once serve to distinguish this species from any 
other ravens in the United States. 
As already stated, No. 10300 is rather larger than skins from Texas, the largest of which 
(4995) measures a little less in the body; the bill, too, is smaller, measuring 2.20 inches from 
the rictus. The others are all decidedly smaller. 
The Corvus jamaicensis of Gmelin is said to have the downy portion of the feathers white. 
The size is much less, however; the measurements, as given by Gosse, being: Length, 16.50; 
extent, 28; wing, 9.50; tail, 5.75; rictus, 2; tarsus, 2; middle toe, 1.50. Bonaparte, 
in notes on Delattre’s Collection, page 7, says that C. leucognaphalus of Vieillot likewise has 
white down ; but that the skin is naked at the angle of the bill, and the nostrils but little 
covered, very different in this from G. cryptoleucus. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collect¬ 
ed. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig’l 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
10300 
64 
4995 
190 
21.00 
43.00 
12.50 
4994 
May 23, 1855 
90 
20.00 
40.50 
14.00 
4993 
92 
19.00 
36.50 
13.00 
4118 
Q 
May —, 1853 
18.75 
33.00 
13.50 
CORVUS AMERICANUS, And. 
Common Crow. 
Corvus corone, Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 79; pi. xxv, f. 3.— Bon. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 37.— Ib. Syn. 1828,56.— 
Rich. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 291.— Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 209. Not Corvus corone of Linn. 
Corvus americanus, Acd. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 317 : V, 477 ; pi. 156.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 150.— Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 
87; pi. 225.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 385.— Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840,221.— 
Maxim. Reise, I, 1839, 140.— Newberry, Zool. Cal. & Or. Route, P. R. R. Rep. VI, iv, 1857,82. 
Sr. Ch. —Fourth quill longest; second shorter than sixth ; first shorter than ninth. Glossy black with violet reflections, even 
on the belly. Length, 19 to 20 inches ; wing, 13 to 13.50; tail about 8. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw. 
Hab.— North America to the Missouri region ; also on the coast of California. (Not found on the High Central Plains?) 
(4538 $ Washington, D. C.) The bill of this species is considerably narrower than high 
or much compressed. It is gently curved from the very base ; rather more rapidly towards the 
tip. The incumbent feathers of the nostril reach half the distance from the base of the bill to 
the end of the lower jaw, and not quite half way to that of the upper. 
The tarsus has eight scutellae anteriorly, and is rather longer than the middle toe and claw; 
the lateral toes are very nearly equal; the inner claw the larger, and reaching to the base of 
the middle claw. 
The webs of the throat feathers are a little loose, but lie quite smoothly, without the pointed 
lanceolate character seen in the ravens. 
