purpureus_ is that of a uniformly glossy black bird, the metallic
tints being much broken or irregularly distributed, being frequently,
or generally, arranged in successive bands on the feathers over the
whole body, producing a peculiar iridescent effect. In the _Q. æneus_
nothing of this character is seen; for, among a very large series of
western specimens, not one has the body other than continuous bronze,
the head and neck alone being green or blue, and this sharply and
abruptly defined against the very different tint of the other
portions. These colors, of course, have their extremes of variation,
but the change is only in the shade of the metallic tints, the precise
pattern being strictly retained. In the present species the colors are
more vivid and silky than in the eastern, and the bird is, in fact, a
much handsomer one. (Ridgway.)
Just after moulting, the plumage is unusually brilliant, the metallic
tints being much more vivid.
HABITS. The Bronzed Blackbird has been so recently separated from the
_purpureus_ that we cannot give, with exactness or certainty, the area
over which it is distributed. It is supposed to occupy the country
west of the Alleghanies as far to the southwest as the Rio Grande and
Fort Bridger, extending to the Missouri plains on the northwest, to
the Saskatchewan in the north, and to Maine and Nova Scotia on the
northeast. Subsequent explorations may somewhat modify this supposed
area of distribution. It is at least known that this form occurs in
Texas, in all the States immediately west of the Alleghanies, and in
the New England States, as well as the vicinity of New York City.
In regard to its habits, as differing from those of _purpureus_, we
are without any observations sufficiently distinctive to be of value.
It reaches Calais about the first of April, and is a common summer
visitant.
In the fall of 1869, about the 10th of October, several weeks after
the _Quiscali_ which had been spending the summer with us had
disappeared, an unusually large number of these birds, in the bronzed
plumage, made their appearance in the place; they seemed to come all
together, but kept in smaller companies. One of these flocks spent the
day, which was lowering and unpleasant, but not rainy, in my orchard.
They kept closely to the ground, and seemed to be busily engaged in
searching for insects. They had a single call-note, not loud, and
seemingly one of uneasiness and watchfulness against danger. Yet they
were not shy, and permitted a close approach. They remained but a day,
and all were gone the following morning. On the day after their
departure, we found that quite a number of apples had been bitten
into. We had no doubt as to the culprits, though no one saw them in
the act.
Audubon’s observations relative to the Crow Blackbird are chiefly made
with reference to those seen in Louisiana, where this race is probably
the only one found. The only noticeable peculiarity in his account of
these birds is his statement that the Blackbirds of that State nest in
hollow trees, a manner of breeding now known to be also occasional in
the habits of the _purpureus_. The eggs of this form appear to exhibit
apparently even greater variations than do those of the _purpureus_.
One egg, measuring 1.10 inches by .85, has a bright bluish-green
ground, plashed and spotted with deep brown markings. Another has a
dull gray ground, sparingly marked with light brown; the measurement
of this is 1.13 inches by .85. A third has a greenish-white ground, so
profusely spotted with a russet-brown that the ground-color is hardly
perceptible. It is larger and more nearly spherical, measuring 1.16
inches by .90. A fourth is so entirely covered with blotches, dots,
and cloudings of dark cinnamon-brown that the ground can nowhere be
traced.
Mr. Gideon Lincecum, of Long Point, Texas, writes, in regard to this
species, that, in his neighborhood, they nest in rookeries, often on a
large live oak. They build their nests on the top of large limbs. In
favorable situations four or five nests can be looked into at once.
They are at this time full of song, though never very melodious. The
people of Texas shoot them, believing them to be injurious to their
crops; but instead of being an injury they are an advantage, they
destroy so many worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc. They are
migratory, and very gregarious. They all leave Texas in the winter,
and the same birds return in the spring to the same nesting-places.
They lay five eggs in a nest.
In Southern Illinois, as Mr. Ridgway informs me, these birds are
resident throughout the year, though rather rare during the winter
months. They breed in the greatest abundance, and are very gregarious
in the breeding-season. On a single small island in the Wabash River,
covered with tall willows, Mr. Ridgway found over seventy nests at one
time. These were placed indifferently on horizontal boughs, in forks,
or in excavations,—either natural or made by the large Woodpeckers
(_Hylotomus_),—nests in all these situations being sometimes found in
one tree. They prefer the large elms, cottonwoods, and sycamores of
the river-bottoms as trees for nesting-places, but select rather
thinly wooded situations, as old clearings, etc. In the vicinity of
Calais, according to Mr. Boardman, they nest habitually in hollow
stubs in marshy borders of brooks or ponds.
Var. aglæus, BAIRD.
FLORIDA GRAKLE.
_Quiscalus baritus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 556, pl. xxxii (not
of _Linn._). _Quiscalus aglæus_, BAIRD, Am. Jour. Sci. 1866,
84.—CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 44.—RIDGWAY, Pr. A. N. S.
1869, 135. _Q. purpureus_, ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 291.
[Illustration: Var. _aglæus_.]
SP. CHAR. Length, 10.60; wing, 5.20; tail, 5.12; culmen, 1.40; tarsus,
1.40. Second and third quills equal and longest; first shorter than
fourth; projection of primaries beyond secondaries, 1.12; graduation
of tail, 1.00.
Bill very slender and elongated, the tip of upper mandible abruptly
decurved; commissure very regular.
Metallic tints very dark. Head and neck all round well defined
violaceous steel-blue, the head most bluish, the neck more purplish
and with a bronzy cast in front; body uniform soft, dull, bronzy
greenish-black, scarcely lustrous; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail
blackish steel-blue, the wing-coverts tipped with vivid violet-bronze;
belly and crissum glossed with blue.
HAB. South Florida.
This race is quite well marked, though it grades insensibly into the
var. _purpureus_. It differs from both that and _æneus_ in much
smaller size, with more slender and more decurved bill.
The arrangement of the colors is much as in the larger western
species, while the tints are most like those of the eastern. All the
colors are, however, darker, but at the same time softer than in
either of the others.
In form this species approaches nearest the western, agreeing with it
in the primaries, slender bill, and more graduated tail, and, indeed,
its relations in every respect appear to be with this rather than the
eastern.
This race was first described from specimens collected at Key Biscayne
by Mr. Wurdemann, in April, 1857, and in 1858, and is the smallest of
the genus within our limits. The wing and tail each are about an inch
shorter than in the other varieties of _purpureus_. The bill, however,
is much longer and more slender, and the tip considerably more
produced and decurved. The feet are stouter and much coarser, the pads
of the toes very scabrous, as if to assist in holding slippery
substances, a feature scarcely seen in _purpureus_.[49]
HABITS. This race or species seems to be confined exclusively to the
peninsula of Florida. We have no notes as to any of its peculiarities,
nor do we know that it exhibits any differences of manners or habits
from those of its more northern relatives.
Of its eggs I have seen but few specimens. These do not exhibit much
variation. The ground-color shades from a light drab to one with a
greenish tinge. They average 1.17 inches in length by .85 in breadth,
are more oblong in shape, and are very strikingly marked with
characters in black and dark brown, resembling Arabic and Turkish
letters.
[49] A series of twenty-nine specimens of _Q. purpureus_ from
Florida, has been kindly furnished for examination by Mr. C. J.
Maynard, chiefly from the northern and middle portions of the
State, and consequently intermediate between the varieties
_aglæus_ and _purpureus_. In color, however, they are nearly all
essentially, most of them typically, like the former; but in size
and proportions they scarcely differ from more northern specimens
of the latter. Their common and nearly constant features of
coloration are, uniform soft dark greenish body, with blue tinge
on belly, and bluish-green tail-coverts and tail, violet head,
more blue anteriorly and more bronzy on the foreneck, and with
this color abruptly defined posteriorly against the peculiar
uniform blackish dull green of the body; the wing-coverts usually
tipped with vivid violet and green spots. One male is a typical
example of the var. _purpureus_, distinguished by the blending of
the similar metallic tints on the body and head, the broken tints
on the body arranged in transverse bars on the back, more purple
tail-coverts, and lack of the vivid metallic tips to the
wing-coverts. There are also four nearly typical specimens of the
var. _aglæus_, these probably from farther south on the
peninsula, but with the characteristics of the race less
exaggerated than in the types from the keys. The measurements of
this series are as follows:—
Var. _purpureus_ (one specimen). ♂. Wing, 5.30; tail, 4.65;
culmen, 1.38.
Intermediate specimens. Typical _aglæus_ in colors, but like
_purpureus_ in size. (16 males, and 17 females). ♂. Wing, 4.85 to
5.50; tail, 4.60 to 5.50; culmen, 1.25 to 1.50. ♀. Wing, 4.65 to
4.90; tail, 3.80 to 4.50; culmen, 1.10 to 1.30.
Var. _aglæus_ (four specimens). ♂. Wing, 5.30 to 5.60; tail, 5.00
to 5.30; culmen, 1.38 to 1.40.
Quiscalus major, VIEILL.
BOAT-TAILED GRAKLE; JACKDAW.
_Gracula barita_, WILSON, Index Am. Orn. VI, 1812 (not of LINNÆUS).
_Gracula quiscala_, ORD. J. A. N. Sc. I, 1818, 253 (not of
LINNÆUS). _Quiscalus major_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXVIII,
1819, 487.—BON. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 35, pl. iv.—IB. List,
1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 424.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 504; V,
1838, 480, pl. clxxxvii, IB. Syn. 1839, 146.—IB. Birds Am. IV,
1842, 52, pl. ccxx.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 555.—CASSIN,
Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 409.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 295.—COUES, Ibis,
N. S. IV, No. 23, 1870, 367 (Biography). _Chalcophanes major_,
“TEMM.” CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196.
SP. CHAR. (1,563.) Form rather lengthened, but robust; bill strong,
about the length of head; wing rather long, second and third quills
usually longest, though the first four quills are frequently nearly
equal; tail long, graduated; lateral feathers about 2.50 inches
shorter than the central; legs and feet strong.
_Adult male._ Black; head and neck with a fine purple lustre, rather
abruptly defined on the lower part of the neck behind, and succeeded
by a fine green lustre which passes into a purple or steel-blue on the
lower back and upper tail-coverts. On the under parts the purple
lustre of the head and neck passes more gradually into green on the
abdomen; under tail-coverts usually purplish-blue, frequently plain
black. Smaller wing-coverts with green lustre; larger coverts
greenish-bronze; quills frequently plain black, with a greenish or
bronzed edging and slight lustre. Tail usually with a slight bluish or
greenish lustre, frequently plain black. Bill and feet black. Iris
yellow. Total length about 15 inches; wing, 7.00; tail, 6.50 to 7.00.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVI.
1. Quiscalus macrourus. ♂ Texas, 3948.
2. ” ” ♀ Texas, 3949.
3. ” major. ♀ S. Car., 39005.
4. ” ” ♂ S. Car., 39003.]
_Adult female._ Smaller. Upper parts dark brown, lighter on the head
and neck behind; darker and nearly a dull black on the lower part of
the back and upper tail-coverts; under parts lighter, dull
yellowish-brown; tibiæ and under tail-coverts darker; wings and tail
dull brownish-black; upper parts frequently with a slight greenish
lustre. Total length, about 12.50; wing, 5.50 to 6.00; tail, 5.50.
(CASSIN.)
HAB. Coast region of South Atlantic and Gulf States of North America.
Galveston and Houston, Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 494).
HABITS. The Boat-tailed Grakle, or Jackdaw, of the Southern States, is
found in all the maritime portions of the States that border both on
the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, from North Carolina to Rio
Grande. In Western Texas it does not seem to be abundant. Lieutenant
Couch met with only a single specimen at Brownsville, in company with
_Q. macrurus_. Mr. Dresser, when at Houston and at Galveston in May
and June, 1864, noticed several of these birds. Mr. Salvin mentions
finding them as far south as the Keys of the Belize coast.
We learn from the observations of Mr. Audubon that this species is
more particularly attached to the maritime portions of the country. It
rarely goes farther inland than forty or fifty miles, following the
marshy banks of the larger streams. It occurs in great abundance in
the lower portions of Louisiana, though not found so high up the
Mississippi as Natchez. It also abounds in the Sea Islands on the
coast of the Carolinas, and in the lowlands of South Carolina,
Georgia, and Florida.
Dr. Coues states that this species hardly occurs in any abundance
north of the Carolinas, and that it is restricted to a narrow belt
along the coast of the ocean and gulf, from North Carolina throughout
our entire shore to Mexico. He supposed it to stop there, and to be
replaced by the _macrurus_. Though the larger proportion of these
birds pass beyond our southern boundaries to spend the winter, a few,
chiefly old males, are resident in North Carolina throughout the year.
In the spring the females are the first to appear. Just before the
mating has taken place, the flocks of these birds are said to execute
sudden and unaccountable evolutions, as if guided by some single
commanding spirit; now hovering uncertain, then dashing impulsive, now
veering in an instant, and at last taking a long, steady flight
towards some distant point. During this period, Dr. Coues further
informs us, their voices crack, and they utter a curious medley of
notes from bass to falsetto, a jingling, unmusical jargon that is
indescribable.
The laying-season is said to be at its height during the latter part
of April. He found in no instance more than six eggs in a nest, nor
less than three. He thinks that they have two, and perhaps three,
broods in a season, as he found it not uncommon to meet with newly
fledged birds in September.
These birds are eminently gregarious at all seasons of the year, and
at certain seasons assemble in large flocks. They are omnivorous,
eating both insects and grain, and are alternately benefactors and
plunderers of the planters. In the early season they seek their food
among the large salt marshes of the seaboard, and along the muddy
banks of creeks and rivers. They do great damage to the rice
plantations, both when the grain is in the soft state and afterwards
when the ripened grain is stacked. They also feed very largely upon
the small crabs called fiddlers, so common in all the mud flats,
earthworms, various insects, shrimps, and other aquatic forms of the
like character.
A few of these birds are resident throughout the year, though the
greater part retire farther south during a portion of the winter. They
return in February, in full plumage, when they mate. They resort, by
pairs and in companies, to certain favorite breeding-places, where
they begin to construct their nests. They do not, however, even in
Florida, begin to breed before April. They build a large and clumsy
nest, made of very coarse and miscellaneous materials, chiefly sticks
and fragments of dry weeds, sedges, and strips of bark, lined with
finer stems, fibrous roots, and grasses, and have from three to five
eggs.
It is a very singular but well-established characteristic of this
species, that no sooner is their nest completed and incubation
commenced than the male birds all desert their mates, and, joining one
another in flocks, keep apart from the females, feeding by themselves,
until they are joined by the young birds and their mothers in the
fall.
These facts and this trait of character in this species have been
fully confirmed by the observations of Dr. Bachman of Charleston. In
1832 he visited a breeding-locality of these birds. On a single Smilax
bush he found more than thirty nests of the Grakles, from three to
five feet apart, some of them not more than fifteen inches above the
water, and only females were seen about the nests, no males making
their appearance. Dr. Bachman also visited colonies of these nests
placed upon live-oak trees thirty or forty feet from the ground, and
carefully watched the manners of the old birds, but has never found
any males in the vicinity of their nests after the eggs had been laid.
They always keep at a distance, feeding in flocks in the marshes,
leaving the females to take charge of their nests and young. They have
but one brood in a season.
As these birds fly, in loose flocks, they continually utter a peculiar
cry, which Mr. Audubon states resembles or may be represented by
_kirrick, crick, crick_. Their usual notes are harsh, resembling loud,
shrill whistles, and are frequently accompanied with their ordinary
cry of _crick-crick-cree_. In the love-season these notes are said to
be more pleasing, and are changed into sounds which Audubon states
resemble _tirit, tirit, titiri-titiri-titirēē_, rising from low to
high with great regularity and emphasis. The cry of the young bird,
when just able to fly, he compares to the whistling cry of some kind
of frogs.
The males are charged by Mr. Audubon with attacking birds of other
species, driving them from their nests and sucking their eggs.
Dr. Bryant, who found this species the most common bird in the
neighborhood of Lake Monroe, adds that it could be seen at all times
running along the edge of the water, almost in the manner of a
Sandpiper. They were breeding by hundreds in the reeds near the inlet
to the lake. On the 6th of April some of the birds had not commenced
laying, though the majority had hatched, and the young of others were
almost fledged.
The eggs of this species measure 1.25 inches in length by .92 in
breadth. Their ground-color is usually a brownish-drab, in some tinged
with olive, in others with green. Over this are distributed various
markings, in lines, zigzags, and irregular blotches of brown and black.
Quiscalus major, var. macrurus, SW.
GREAT-TAILED GRAKLE.
_Quiscalus macrourus_, SWAINSON, Anim. in Menag. 2¼ centen. 1838,
299, fig. 51, a.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, pl. lviii.—IB.
Mex. B. II, Birds, 20, pl. xx.—CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 410.
_Chalcophanes macrurus_, CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196.
SP. CHAR. (The largest species of this genus.) Form lengthened but
robust, bill strong, longer than the head; wing long, third quill
usually longest; tail long, graduated, outer feathers three to five
inches shorter than those in the middle; legs and feet strong.
_Adult male._ Black; head, neck, back, and entire under parts with a
fine bluish-purple lustre; lower part of back and the upper
tail-coverts, and also the abdomen and under tail-coverts, frequently
with green lustre, though in specimens apparently not fully adult
those parts are sometimes bluish-brown, inclining to dark steel-blue.
Wings and tail with a slight purplish lustre, smaller coverts with
bluish-green, and larger coverts with greenish-bronze lustre. Bill and
feet black. Iris yellow. Total length, 17.50 to 20.00; wing, about
8.00; tail, 8.00 to 10.50.
_Female._ Smaller, and generally resembling that of _Q. major_, but
rather darker colored above. Entire upper parts dark brown, nearly
black, and with a green lustre on the back; wings and tail dull
brownish-black. Under parts light, dull yellowish-brown; paler on the
throat, and with a trace of a narrow dark line from each side of the
lower mandible. Tibiæ and under tail-coverts dark brown. Total length
about 13.00; wing, 6.00; tail, 6.50. (CASSIN.)
HAB. Eastern Texas to Panama and Carthagena. Cordova (SCL. 1856, 300);
Guatemala (SCL. Ibis. I, 20, eggs); Honduras (SCL. II, 112);
Carthagena, N. 9 (CASS. R. A. S., 1860, 138); Costa Rica (CABAN.
Journ. IX, 1861, 82; LAWR. IV, 104); Nicaragua (LAWR. N. Y. Lyc. VIII,
181); Rio Grande of Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 493, breeds); Vera
Cruz (from hot to alpine regions; resident. SUMICHRAST, M. B. S. I,
553).
HABITS. The Great-tailed or Central American Grakle is an abundant
species throughout Mexico and Central America, and probably extends to
some distance into South America. In Vera Cruz, Sumichrast states it
to be one of the few birds that are found in nearly equal abundance
throughout the three regions, hot, temperate, and alpine, into which
that department is physically divided. It is abundant everywhere
throughout that State, and also nests there. In the neighborhood of
Cordova and Orizaba it lives in large communities, a single tree being
often loaded with the nests.
On the Rio Grande it extends into Texas, and thus qualifies itself for
a place within our fauna. A few specimens were procured at Eagle Pass
and elsewhere by the Mexican Boundary Survey party. It is more
abundant on the western banks of the Rio Grande, especially at
Matamoras. Among the MS. notes left by Dr. Kennerly is a part of the
memoranda of the late Dr. Berlandier of that place. Under the name of
_Pica elegans_ the latter refers to what is evidently this species. He
describes it as found in all parts of the Republic of Mexico, where it
is known as _Uraca_, _Pajaro negro_, and, in Acapulco, _Papate_. It is
found, he adds, abundantly throughout the State of Tamaulipas. It
lives upon grain, especially corn, devouring the planted seeds and
destroying the crops. It builds its nest in April, laying its eggs in
the same month, and the young birds are hatched out by the beginning
of May. The nests are large, the edges high, and the cavity
correspondingly deep. They are constructed of dry plants and small
bits of cloth, which the birds find about the settlements, and the
bottom of the nest is plastered with clay, which gives it great
firmness. This is covered with grasses and pieces of dry weeds. The
eggs are described as large, of a pale leaden-gray or a rusty color,
over which are black marks, stripes, lines, and spots without order or
regularity. They are generally four in number. The nests are built on
the tops of the highest trees, usually the willows or mesquites.
Mr. G. C. Taylor, in his notes on the birds of Honduras, states that
he found this Blackbird common, and always to be met with about the
villages. It appeared to be polygamous, the males being generally
attended by several females. A fine male bird, with his accompanying
females, frequented the court-yard of the Railroad House at Comayagua,
where Mr. Taylor was staying. They generally sat on the roof of the
house, or among the upper branches of some orange-trees that grew in
the yard. They had a very peculiar cry, not unlike the noise produced
by the sharpening of a saw, but more prolonged.
Mr. Salvin found the bird very abundant in Central America. In one of
his papers relative to the birds of that region, he states that this
species, in Guatemala, plays the part of the European House Sparrow.
It seeks the abode of man, as does that familiar bird, and is
generally found frequenting larger towns as well as villages. Stables
are its favorite places of resort, where it scratches for its food
among the ordure of the horses. It will even perch on the backs of
these animals and rid them of their ticks, occasionally picking up
stray grains of corn from their mangers. At Duenas he found it
breeding in large societies, usually selecting the willows that grow
near the lake and the reeds on the banks for its nest. The breeding
season extends over some length of time. In May, young birds and fresh
eggs may be found in nests in the same trees. On the coast, young
birds, nearly capable of flying, were seen in the early part of March.
Mr. Salvin adds that the nests are usually made of grass, and placed
among upright branches, the grass being intwined around each twig, to
support the structure. The eggs in that region were seldom found to
exceed three in number.
Mr. Dresser found the Long-tailed Grakles very common at Matamoras,
where they frequented the streets and yards with no signs of fear.
They were breeding there in great quantities, building a heavy nest of
sticks, lined with roots and grass. They were fond of building in
company, and in the yard of the hotel he counted seven nests in one
tree. At Eagle Pass, and as far east as the Nueces River, he found
them not uncommon, but noticed none farther in the interior of Texas.
Their usual note is a loud and not unmelodious whistle. They have also
a very peculiar guttural note, which he compares to the sound caused
by drawing a stick sharply across the quills of a dried goose-wing.
Captain McCown states that he observed these Blackbirds building in
large communities at Fort Brown, Texas. Upon a tree standing near the
centre of the parade-ground at that fort, a pair of the birds had
built their nest. Just before the young were able to fly, one of them
fell to the ground. A boy about ten years old discovered and seized
the bird, which resisted stoutly, and uttered loud cries. These soon
brought to its rescue a legion of old birds, which vigorously attacked
the boy, till he was glad to drop the bird and take to flight. Captain
McCown then went and picked up the young bird, when they turned their
fury upon him, passing close to his head and uttering their sharp caw.
He placed it upon a tree, and there left it, to the evident
satisfaction of his assailants. These birds, he adds, have a peculiar
cry, something like tearing the dry husk from an ear of corn. From
this the soldiers called them corn-huskers. He often saw other and
smaller birds building in the same tree. They were very familiar, and
would frequently approach to within ten feet of a person.
The eggs measure 1.32 inches in length by .92 of an inch in breadth,
and exhibit great variations both in ground-color and in the style and
character of their marking. In some the ground-color is of a light
grayish-white with a slight tinge of green or blue; in others it is of
a light drab, and again many have a deep brownish-drab. The markings
are principally of a dark brown, hardly distinguishable from black,
distributed in the shape of drops, or broad irregular narrow plashes,
or in waving zigzag lines and markings. Intermingled with these deeper
and bolder markings are suffused cloud-like colorations of
purplish-brown.
FAMILY STURNIDÆ.—THE STARLINGS.
CHAR. General characters of the _Icteridæ_, but with a rudimentary
first primary, making the total number ten.
The introduction of this family into the present work is required by
the occurrence of the typical species, _Sturnus vulgaris_, in
Greenland, although it otherwise characterizes the Old World
exclusively. There are several subfamilies, principally African and
East Indian (_Lamprotornithinæ_, _Buphaginæ_, _Sturninæ_, and
_Graculinæ_), some of them of very brilliant plumage.
The _Sturnidæ_ in many respects constitute a natural stage of
transition from the _Icteridæ_ to the _Corvidæ_, through the Jays.
GENUS STURNUS, LINNÆUS.
_Sturnus_, LINN. Syst. Nat., I, (ed. 10,) 1758, 167. (Type, _S.
vulgaris_.)
[Line drawing: _Sturnus vulgaris._
19020]
GEN. CHAR. Bill long, conical, much depressed; the culmen, gonys, and
commissure nearly straight, the latter angulated at base. Wings, twice
length of tail; much pointed, the primaries graduating rapidly from
the second, the first being rudimentary, the secondaries much shorter.
Tail nearly even; the feathers acuminate. Tarsi short; about equal to
middle toe; lateral toes equal. Plumage coarse and stiff, each feather
distinctly outlined.
The bill of _Sturnus_ is very similar to that of _Sturnella_, although
less inflected at the edges. The shorter tarsi, much longer wings,
with the innermost secondaries much less than the primaries, etc.,
readily distinguish the two families.
Sturnus vulgaris, LINN.
THE STARLING.
_Sturnus vulgaris_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, (ed. 10,) 1758, 167; (ed.
12,) 1766, 290.—DEGLAND & GERBE, Orn. Europ. I, 1867,
232.—REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 7 (Greenland).
SP. CHAR. Feathers principally lustrous-black, with purple and green
reflections, except at their extremities, which are dull and opaque;
brownish above, silvery-white beneath. Bill yellow in spring, brown in
autumn. Legs flesh-color. Length about 8.51; wing, 5.11; tail, 2.81;
bill above, 1.11, from nostril, .75; gape, 1.15; tarsus, 1.15; middle
toe and claw, 1.15. _Female_ similar, but less brilliant.
HAB. Europe and North Africa, most abundant in Holland. One specimen
killed in Greenland, in 1851, and preserved in the Royal Zoölogical
Museum of Copenhagen.
The preceding description will serve to distinguish the Starling from
any North American species, although it is subject to considerable
variation. A second form, scarcely distinguishable as a species (_S.
unicolor_, De la Marmora), of a prevailing black color, without
terminal spots, and with the feathers of the under part elongated, is
found in Sardinia and Sicily.
HABITS. We give a place to the common Starling of Europe in the fauna
of North America, as an occasional and rare visitant of Greenland.
Only a single instance is on record of its actual capture,—a female
taken by Holböll in 1851, and now in the Royal Museum of Copenhagen.
The well-known Starling of Europe is handsome in plumage and of
graceful shape. It is numerous, as a species, is very generally
distributed, and therefore very well known. With many it is a great
favorite, and is also familiar as a caged bird. Its sprightly habits,
retentive memory, and flexibility of voice, commend it as an
interesting and entertaining pet. It has been taught to whistle tunes,
and even to imitate the human voice, with facility and correctness. In
its natural state it is a very social bird, and lives in flocks the
greater part of the year.
Mr. Waterton, who was a great admirer of the Starling, sought to
induce these birds to frequent his grounds, and with this view made
various cavities in the walls of an old tower near his residence. His
wishes were gratified, and soon every cavity he had made was taken
possession of by a pair, and many more would have been thus domiciled
had provision been made for them.
A similar instance is on record in Hamburg, where, within a few years,
a well-known horticulturist induced nearly two hundred pairs of
Starlings to occupy and to breed in wooden boxes put up in his grounds
for their accommodation. His plants had been destroyed by the attacks
of hosts of subterranean larvæ, and the Starlings were invited in the
hope that they would remove this evil, which they did quite
effectually.
Dr. Beverley Morris gives a very interesting account of a female
Starling that he observed building a nest in a hollow tree. The male
looked on, but took no part, except to drive away other intrusive
birds. The female made on an average three trips a minute, with small
twigs and bits of dry grass, taking sometimes three or four at a time.
He estimated that in the space of six hours she had taken to her nest
not less than a thousand sticks.
The Starling is said to select for its nest suitable places in
church-steeples, the eaves of houses, and holes in walls, especially
of old towers and ruins; occasionally it builds in hollow trees, in
cliffs or in high rocks overhanging the sea, and also in dovecotes.
The nests are made of slender twigs, straw, roots, and dry grasses.
The birds incubate sixteen days. The old birds are devoted to their
offspring.
Almost as soon as the nestlings are able to fly, different families
unite to form large flocks, which may be seen feeding on commons and
grass-grounds, in company with the Rooks and other birds. Their chief
food consists of larvæ, worms, insects in various stages, and, at
times, berries and grain. In confinement they are very fond of raw
meat.
Mr. Yarrell, quoting Dr. Dean of Wells, gives an account of an
extraordinary haunt of Starlings on an estate of a gentleman who had
prepared the place for occupation by Pheasants. It was in a plantation
of arbutus and laurustinus, covering some acres, to which these birds
repaired, in the evening, almost by the million, coming from the low
grounds about the Severn. A similar instance is given by Mr. Ball, of
Dublin, of an immense swarm of several hundred thousand Starlings
sleeping every night in a mass of thorn-trees at the upper end of the
Zoölogical Garden in Phœnix Park.
The Starlings are found throughout Great Britain, even to the Hebrides
and the Orkneys, where they are great favorites, and holes are left in
the walls of the houses for their accommodation. They are common
throughout Norway, Sweden, and the north of Europe, and as far east as
the Himalayas and even Japan. They are also found in all the countries
on both sides of the Mediterranean, and Mr. Gould states that they
occur in Africa as far south as the Cape of Good Hope.
The eggs of the Starling are five in number, of a uniform delicate
pale blue, oval in shape and rounded at one end; they measure 1.20
inches in length by .88 in breadth.
FAMILY CORVIDÆ.—THE CROWS.
CHAR. Primaries ten; the first short, generally about half as long as
the second (or a little more); the outer four sinuated on the inner
edge. The nasal fossæ and nostrils usually more or less concealed by
narrow, stiffened bristles (or bristly feathers), with short appressed
lateral branches extending to the very tip, all directed forwards
(these bristles occasionally wanting). Tarsi scutellate anteriorly,
the sides undivided (except sometimes below), and separated from the
anterior plates by a narrow naked strip, sometimes filled up with
small scales. Basal joint of middle toe united about equally to the
lateral, generally for about half the length. Bill generally notched.
The preceding characters distinguish the family of Crows quite
markedly from all others. The features of the bristles on the bill,
and the separation of the lateral and anterior scales by a narrow
interval, are worthy of particular attention. The commissure is
without the obtusely angular bend near the base, seen in the
_Icteridæ_.
There are two sub-families of _Corvidæ_ represented in America, one
embracing the true Crows, the other the Jays. They pass very
insensibly into each other, and it is difficult to mark the dividing
line. We may, however, distinguish these, as found in the United
States, by the following characters:—
Corvinæ. Bill as long as the head. Tail short, nearly even; wings long
and pointed, longer than tail, and nearly reaching its tip; projecting
beyond the under tail-coverts, which reach the middle of tail. Tip of
wing formed by the third, fourth, and fifth quills, which are longest.
Garrulinæ. Bill usually shorter than head. Tail lengthened, rounded,
and generally longer than the wings, which are short, rounded, and
extend scarcely beyond the lower tail-coverts; these not reaching the
middle of the tail. Tip of wing formed by the fourth, fifth, and sixth
quills, which are longest.
The row of small scales is usually present on both sides of the tarsi
in the _Corvinæ_, but in the Jays is generally restricted to the inner
face.
SUBFAMILY CORVINÆ.
CHAR. Wings long and pointed; longer than the tail, and, when closed,
reaching nearly to its tip, extending far beyond the under
tail-coverts; the third, fourth, and fifth quills forming the tip of
the wing.
The following diagnosis may serve to distinguish the three genera of
North American _Corvinæ_:—
A. (_Corveæ_). Bill compressed, much higher than broad;
its tip compressed. Size large (i. e. over 15 inches
long), color black, or mainly black.
Color black throughout; bill much compressed, the culmen
much arched, and the gonys convex; nasal bristles strong
_Corvus_.
B. (_Nucifrageæ._) Bill cylindrical, scarcely or not at
all higher than broad; its tip depressed. Size small (i.
e. less than 15 inches long). Color uniform blue or with
ashy on body, and black wings and tail.
Color ashy, with wings and tail mainly black. Culmen
convex, gonys slightly concave. Nostrils covered by the
short nasal tuft _Picicorvus_.
Color uniform blue, brighter on the head; the throat
streaked with whitish. Culmen straight; gonys slightly
convex. Nostrils completely exposed; no nasal tufts _Gymnokitta_.
GENUS CORVUS, LINNÆUS.
_Corvus_, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Type, _Corvus corax_, L.)
[Line drawing: _Corvus carnivorus._
12442]
GEN. CHAR. The nasal feathers lengthened, reaching to or beyond the
middle of the bill. Nostrils large, circular, overhung behind by
membrane, the edges rounded elsewhere. Rictus without bristles. Bill
nearly as long as the tarsus, very stout; much higher than broad at
the base; culmen much arched. Wings reaching nearly or quite to the
tip of the tail, the outer four primaries sinuated internally. Tarsi
longer than the middle toe, with a series of small scales on the
middle of each side separating the anterior scutellate portion from
the posterior continuous plates. Sides of the head occasionally with
nearly naked patches. Tail graduated or rounded.
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII.
1. Quiscalus purpureus. ♂ Pa., 1363.
2. ” aglæus. ♂ Fla., 10342.
3. Corvus caurinus. ♂ Sitka, 46662.
4. ” mexicanus. ♂ Mazatlan, 52802.
5. ” americanus. ♂ D. C.
6. ” carnivorus. ♀ Neb., 4546.
7. ” ossifragus. D. C., 4515.
8. ” cryptoleucus. Texas, 46798.
9. ” floridanus. Fla., 10374.]
Species and Varieties.
RAVENS. Feathers of the chin and throat stiffened,
elongated, narrow and lanceolate, with their outlines very
distinct.
1. C. corax var. carnivorus. Length about 25.00;
wing, 17.00; tail, 10.00; graduation of tail, 1.60
to 2.40. Feathers of the neck and breast light gray
beneath surface. _Hab._ Whole of North America;
Guatemala and Mexico. Rare in Eastern United States.
2. C. cryptoleucus. Length about 21.00; wing, 14.00;
tail, 8.50; graduation of tail, about 1.25. Feathers
of neck and breast snowy-white beneath surface.
_Hab._ Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain of Texas;
Arizona; Colorado.
CROWS. Feathers of chin and throat soft, short, broad,
obtuse, and with their webs blended.
A. Angle of mouth feathered—North American Crows.
_a._ Tarsus longer than the bill. First quill not
longer than tenth.
3. C. americanus. The gloss of the plumage
purplish-violet, and hardly perceptible on head and
neck, middle toe and claw rather shorter than
tarsus, measured from beginning of scutellæ.
Wing, 12.25; tail, 7.20; culmen, 1.85; tarsus,
2.00; middle toe, 1.45; wing-formula, 4, 3, 5, 6,
2; first quill equal to tenth. _Hab._ North
America generally var. _americanus_.[50]
Wing, 12.50; tail, 7.20; culmen, 2.10; tarsus,
2.30; middle toe, 1.60. Wing-formula? (moulting).
_Hab._ South Florida var. _floridanus_.
4. C. ossifragus. The gloss of plumage
violaceous-blue, almost green on the head, neck, and
breast, where very perceptible. Middle toe and claw
longer than tarsus, as above. Wing, 10.50; tail,
6.50; culmen, 1.55; tarsus, 1.65; middle toe, 1.35.
Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5; first quill slightly shorter
than tenth. _Hab._ Atlantic Coast of the United
States.
_b._ Tarsus shorter than the bill. First quill longer
than tenth.
5. C. caurinus. Gloss of the plumage as in
_americanus_, but deeper. Wing, 10.50; tail, 6.40;
culmen, 1.95; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.25.
Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5. _Hab._ Northwestern coast of
North America.
6. C. mexicanus.[51] Plumage highly lustrous,
blended. Soft burnished steel-blue, changing to
violet on the crown, and with a greenish cast on
lower parts. Wing, 9.00; tail, 6.50; culmen, 1.60;
tarsus, 1.20; middle toe, 1.10. Wing-formula, 4, 3,
5. First quill very much longer than tenth. _Hab._
Western Mexico (Mazatlan, etc.).
B. Angle of mouth naked—West Indian Crows.
_a._ Tarsus much shorter than the bill.
7. C. nasicus.[52] Nostrils scarcely concealed by
the short nasal bristles. Entirely violaceous-black,
the feathers smoky-gray beneath the surface. Wing,
11.00; tail, 7.75; culmen, 2.45; depth of bill, .80;
tarsus, 1.95; middle toe, 1.50; graduation of tail
about 1.00; wing-formula, 4, 3, 5, 6, 2; first quill
shortest. _Hab._ Cuba.
8. C. leucognaphalus.[53] Nostrils well concealed by
the longer, but rather scant, nasal bristles.
Entirely violaceous-black, the feathers of the neck
all round, breast and sides, pure white below the
surface. Wing, 12.50; tail, 9.00; culmen, 2.45;
depth of bill, .95; tarsus, 2.15; middle toe, 1.50;
graduation of tail about 1.25. Wing-formula, 4, 5,
3, 6, 2; first quill much the shortest. _Hab._ Porto
Rico.
_b._ Tarsus about equal to bill.
9. C. jamaicensis.[54] Nostrils just covered by the
short but dense tuft of nasal bristles. Entirely
dark sooty-plumbeous, inclining to black on the
head, wings, and tail, where is a very faint
violaceous gloss. Wing, 9.50; tail, 6.50; culmen,
2.00; depth of bill, 1.70; tarsus, 2.05; middle toe,
1.35; graduation of tail, about .60. Wing-formula,
5, 4, 3, 6, 2; first shortest. _Hab._ Jamaica.
[50] The measurements given are of a California specimen, in
order the better to show the great distinction to be made
between this species and _caurinus_, which is probably not
found in California, being a more northern species, and
having the coast of Washington Territory, or perhaps Oregon,
as about its southern limit.
[51] _C. mexicanus_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. p. 375. This species
is perfectly distinct from all the others. The plumage has a
silky blended character, and very high lustre, almost
exactly as in the larger Grakles (_Quiscalus major_, etc.).
[52] _C. nasicus_, TEMM. Pl. Col. 413.—GUNDL. Rev. y Catal.
de las Aves de Cuba., 1865, 290. _Corvus americanus_, LEMB.
Aves de Cuba, 1830, 65. _Hab._ Cuba.
[53] _C. leucognaphalus_, DAUD. Tr. d’Orn. II, 231.—SALLÉ,
P. Z. S. 1857, 232.—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1866, XI, 94.
_Hab._ Porto Rico and Santo Domingo.
[54] _C. jamaicensis_, GM. S. N. I, 367.—GOSSE, B. Jam.
209.—SCL. Catal. Am. B. 1860, 146.—BONAP. Consp.
385.—SALLÉ, P. Z. S. 1857, 232.—MARCH, P. A. N. S. 1863,
300.—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1866, XI, 94. _Hab._ Jamaica
and Santo Domingo.
The _C. minutus_ of Cuba we have not seen; it seems,
however, to be rather nearly related to _C. ossifragus_, and
possesses more lengthened nasal plumes than the three West
Indian species diagnosed above. Its synonomy is as
follows:—
_Corvus minutus_, GUNDL. Cab. J. 1856, 20, p. 97.—IB. Rev.
y Catal. de las Aves de Cuba. _Hab._ Cuba.
Corvus corax, var. carnivorus, BARTRAM.
AMERICAN RAVEN.
_Corvus carnivorus_, BARTRAM, Travels in E. Florida, 1793,
290.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 560, pl. xxi.—COOPER &
SUCKLEY, 210, pl. xxi.—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 225.—LORD,
Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 1864, 121 (British Columbia).—DALL &
BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285 (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn.
Cal. I, 1870, 282.—SAMUELS, 355. _Corvus corax_, WILSON, Am.
Orn. IX, 1825, 136, pl. lxxv. f. 3.—BONAP. Obs. Wils. 1825,
No. 36.—IB. Syn. 1828, 56.—DOUGHTY, Cab. N. H. I, 1830, 270,
pl. xxiv.—RICH. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 290.—NUTTALL, Man. I,
1832, 202.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 476, pl. ci.—IB. Syn.
1839, 150.—IB. Birds Am. IV. 1842, 78, pl. ccxxiv.—HEERM. X,
_S_, 54.—FINSCH, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 40 (Alaska). _Corvus
cacalotl_, “WAGLER,” ? BONAP. Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1837, 115 (perhaps
true _cacalotl_).—IB. List, 1838 (probably not of
Wagler).—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 387.—MAXIMILIAN, Reise
innere Nord Amer. II, 1841, 289 (does not consider it different
from European).—NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 82.
_Corvus lugubris_, AGASSIZ, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. II, Dec. 1846,
188.—IB. Caban. J. VI, 1858, 195.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
563, pl. xx.—KENNERLY, P. R. R. X. b. pl. xxii. _Corvus_, var.
_littoralis_, “HOLBÖLL, Kroger Tidsk. IV, 1843,
390.”—SCHLEGEL, note on _Corvus_.
SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; third and fifth about equal; second
between fifth and sixth; first nearly equal to the eighth. Length,
about 24.00 or 25.00; extent, 50.00 to 51.00; wing, about 17.00; tail,
10.00. Tail moderately graduated; the outer feather about 1.60 to 2.40
inches less than the middle. Entirely glossy black, with burnished
violet reflections.
HAB. Entire continent of North America. Rare east of the Mississippi.
South to Guatemala.
[Illustration: _Corvus carnivorus._]
Though easily distinguishable from the European bird, the American
Raven is so nearly related to it as to be beyond doubt referrible to
it as a variety. The differences presented in a very large series of
both forms are, however, very constant and tangible. In the American
bird the bill is always longer and less deep, and the plumage is more
highly burnished, while the wings, especially the secondaries, are
perceptibly of a more reddish violet than the other portions. Though
in an immense series of American specimens many differences of form
and size are noted, yet there is nothing sufficiently characteristic
of any particular region to indicate more than one variety. As a rule,
however, specimens from the high north exceed in size those from
elsewhere, and have the bill more robust, though not so short as in
the European bird; while those from the Middle Province and Mexico to
Guatemala (= “_cacalotl_,” Baird et Auct.) have the plumage more
brilliant than others, and frequently the bill very narrow.
HABITS. Assuming that we must consider as but one species the two
differing forms of Raven found in North America, we find this bird
more or less common throughout nearly the whole continent. It is much
more abundant in some regions than in others, and, as a general rule,
is much more common and also more generally distributed in the western
portion, where also its habits are remarkably different from the
manners of its eastern representative.
It seems to be more or less common throughout the Arctic regions. Mr.
Kennicott met with Ravens at Lake Winnipeg. Mr. MacFarlane found them
abundant at Lockhart River, at Fort Anderson, and on the Lower
Anderson River. Mr. Ross obtained them at Fort Simpson, Mr. Reid at
Big Island, Mr. Clarke at Fort Rae, Mr. Lockhart at Fort Resolution,
and Mr. Dall at Nulato, in Alaska.
Richardson speaks of it as abounding in the fur countries, where it
frequents the barren grounds even in the intense winter cold, and
where its movements are regulated by those of reindeer, musk-oxen, and
other animals, which it follows, to assist in devouring whatever may
be killed. Ravens are seen to collect from various quarters wherever
any animal is slain, in order to feast on the offal, and considerable
numbers are in constant attendance upon the several fishing-stations.
He mentions a singular instance of the disposition of this bird to
appropriate glittering objects of no value to it for food or anything
else. A Raven was seen flying off with something in its claws, pursued
by a number of its clamorous companions. Having been fired at, it
dropped the object of contention, which proved to be the lock of a
chest.
Mr. MacFarlane’s notes in regard to the nesting of these birds
describe certain variations as to position, etc. One nest was on a
ledge of a cliff of shale, and was composed of dry willow sticks,
lined with pieces of rabbit skin and the hair of moose. Both parents
were seen,—one on the nest, the other on a tree,—but both flew away
on being approached. A second nest was in the top crotch of a tall
pine on the river-bank. It was made of dry sticks, and thickly lined
with reindeer hair. There were eight eggs in this nest. A third was in
a tall pine, and was forty-five feet from the ground. It was
constructed in a manner precisely similar to the preceding. A fourth
was on the top of a tall pine, and only differed in having been lined
with dry grass, moss, and a few reindeer hairs. The other nests appear
to have been similarly situated and constructed. Nearly all were in
high trees, built of dry sticks, and lined with dry grasses, mosses,
and the hair of various quadrupeds. The maximum number of eggs was
eight, their average six.
Mr. MacFarlane states that the Raven is found throughout the winter in
the Arctic regions, and that, though he has met with it north of
latitude 69°, he has never known it to breed north of that line. He
informs us that it is seldom that more than a single pair is to be
seen at a time, and occasionally they may be noted singly, flying
alone, or feeding on garbage. Sometimes a dead fox or wolf will
attract quite a number to the spot. On one occasion he observed as
many as twenty Ravens amicably associated together around the
carcasses of two wolves that had been poisoned with strychnine. In
many cases he has known the partaking of a poisoned animal prove fatal
to them, as also the eating of bait laid for foxes and wolves.
According to this same correspondent, one of these birds became almost
domesticated at Fort Anderson, during February and March, 1865. At
first it fed about the fort with a companion; soon after, coming
alone, it grew bolder and bolder, alighted within the square, allowed
itself to be closely approached, where the young dogs soon became
familiar with it, and would even frolic and gambol with it, the Raven
joining heartily in the sport in its own way. It was never known to
attempt to injure even the smallest of the young dogs, nor did any of
the dogs ever offer to annoy it. It at length came to be considered by
all as an inmate of the establishment. While it seemed to have full
confidence in the people of the fort, it kept at a careful distance
from all Indian or Esquimaux visitors.
Mr. B. R. Ross speaks of Ravens as common as far north as the Arctic
Ocean. They feed on carrion, and act as scavengers to the
establishments. Their sight is remarkably keen, and the sagacity with
which they follow the trapper is wonderful. Early as the hunter may
start, these harpies will have been before him, and torn out the eyes
and entrails of each hare. They will break into marten-traps for the
sake of the bait or the captured animal, thrusting aside or pulling
out with their beaks the sticks that compose the enclosure. Sometimes
they are caught in steel traps that are set for foxes, or eat the
strychnine baits laid for the same animals, and slowly succumb to this
powerful poison. Their flesh is so rank that even a fox, unless sorely
pressed by hunger, will not eat it. They pair in April, and usually
construct their nests in the loftiest trees. They have various
call-notes, one of which is like that of the Canada Goose, and another
is said by Mr. Ross to be very liquid and musical.
Mr. Dall states that these birds were abundant all the year at Nulato,
and indeed everywhere throughout Alaska, but much more common near the
Indian villages and trading-posts than elsewhere. They build on the
sandstone cliffs at Nulato, in cavities that have been occupied for
years. They lay about the 20th of April, and the young are hatched
before open water. He also speaks of them as very intelligent, and
states that on several expeditions made to obtain their eggs, the
instant he stopped at the foot of the bluff the whole colony would
arrange themselves on the edge of the rock in anxious consultation,
uttering repeated cries of warning. On one occasion, where the nest
was inaccessible and the party went back unsuccessful, their departure
was announced by significant and joyous croaks and derisive screeches.
Ravens were also found by Mr. Bannister common all the year on the
small islands lying off the northeast point of St. Michaels.
In the Eastern States the Raven is a comparatively rare bird, except
in a few special localities. These are usually mountain-ranges, high
precipitous banks of rivers and lakes and of the ocean, and among wild
and lonely islands. It occurs on the Labrador coast, at Grand Menan in
the Bay of Fundy, the Adirondacks, Lake George, the Hudson River, etc.
Mr. Lawrence speaks of it as quite common on the coast of New Jersey.
It is found among the mountains of Buncombe and other counties in
North Carolina, and Mr. Audubon mentions its occurrence at Table
Mountain, in the district of Pendleton, South Carolina. Dr. Coues
found Ravens not rare at Labrador, where the almost inaccessible
cliffs afford them safe and convenient retreats. They were so
excessively wary that it was found impossible to shoot them. They
descended in pairs to the sea-shore to feed on dead fish, crabs, and
other animal substances thrown up by the sea.
Mr. Ridgway informs me of the presence of this bird in the heavy
forests of the bottom-lands in Southern Illinois. It is there quite
rare, however, as he has met with but a few pairs. These were
resident, and nested in the tall timber of the Big Creek bottoms, in
Richland Co.
Audubon’s party found it equally impossible to obtain a specimen at
Labrador. One afternoon Mr. Audubon hid himself under a nest several
hours, to no purpose. The old Ravens would not show themselves while
he was within gunshot, though the young clamored for food. As soon as
he had left the spot the female alighted on the nest, fed her young,
and was off again before she could be approached.
At Grand Menan, where they are not rare, and where they breed among
the high cliffs, I found them so wild that it was almost impossible
even to obtain sight of them. Passing high in the air above our heads,
their loud, hoarse croak attested their alarm at the sight of their
enemy, man. They are looked upon with aversion by the islanders, and
are persecuted by them without mercy. They rob the nests of the
Herring Gulls, interfering with the islanders in this privilege, and
are, wrongfully I believe, charged with destroying young lambs.
Years afterwards, when I again encountered individuals of this species
at Cheyenne, on the Plains, I could not but notice the immense
difference in their character. There perfect confidence in man took
the place of dread. Unmolested by the people, who regard them as
desirable scavengers, valueless for food and useful in removing
nuisances, they were as tame and familiar as the European Sparrow in
the parks of New York or Boston. On one occasion I found one engaged
in eating the remains of a dead cow just outside the city. It allowed
me to approach to within five or six feet, when with a very stately
and dignified stride it moved out of my way, and kept me at about this
distance. I could not compel it to fly to any distance, even when I
hastened my steps.
In New England these birds are very rare, and their occurrence is only
accidental. One has been shot on the Connecticut, and another on the
Merrimack, in Massachusetts. They are not unfrequently met with in
Northern New York.
On the Pacific Coast the Raven is common from Sitka to San Diego.
Throughout Washington Territory it is said to be plentiful, more
scattered in the summer, and in the winter congregating about
settlements and the sea-shore. At Vancouver, during the winter, it was
observed amicably associating with the Crows, and on the coast with
the Fish Crows, but during the spring, when the latter had nests, they
boldly attacked the Ravens, and drove them away.
In California and in all the adjacent regions, Dr. Cooper states, the
Raven is found everywhere in pairs, more numerous than in the Atlantic
States, and abundant even in the most barren desert districts. It
follows trains and herds of cattle, and keeps on the lookout for
anything befalling them. It is omnivorous, eating snakes, lizards,
eggs, carrion, and even grain, though the last very rarely. It is
accused of destroying young chickens and lambs.
In Arizona Dr. Coues speaks of it as resident, and very abundant about
the cattle enclosures, where it congregates in immense numbers during
the autumn and winter. During the severe winter of 1864-65 great
numbers perished of cold and hunger at Fort Whipple. Dr. Coues has
favored us with the following interesting sketch of the habits of this
bird as observed by him in that Territory.
“The geographical distribution of the Raven seems to be in great
measure complementary to that of the Crow. On the prairies, in
the desert, among the mountains, of the Western States and
Territories, where the Ravens and their congenial companions, the
coyotes, abound, the Crows are rare or wanting altogether. In
travelling westward, I saw no Crows after leaving the settlements
this side of the Plains, while the Ravens were conspicuous, until
in some parts of Southern California Crows reappeared, but no
Ravens amongst them. I saw a fair number of Ravens along the
Arkansas River, and they were frequent in the valley of the Rio
Grande; after crossing the river, while traversing the wild
region thence to the Colorado, they were our inseparable
companions; hundreds, if not thousands, of them lived about Fort
Whipple all the year, seemingly attracted from miles around by
probabilities of finding abundant food. Throughout the Western
wilds they hang on the footsteps of man, needy adventurers,
claiming their share of his spoils, disputing with the wolves and
vultures for the refuse of his camp, and polishing the skeletons
of the buffalo, with which he sometimes strews the plain. The
more desolate the land, the closer the Raven follows in the trail
of the emigrant, till its dismal croaking sounds ominous of
hardship, and its plumage seems to foreshadow days as dark.
“One accustomed to the shrewdness and prudence of Crows in
populous districts is at first surprised at an apparent
familiarity the Raven often shows in the West. There no one would
think of wasting ammunition on the worthless bird, and it comes
to look upon man more as its provider than as an enemy.
Nevertheless, like the rest of its tribe, the Raven is a
sagacious bird, not likely to be twice deceived, and very ready
to take a hint; he always has his wits about him, and keeps a
bright lookout when anything stranger than a coyote is near. This
wariness is something altogether different from the childlike
timidity of little birds like Sparrows, that scurry away in
terror from any unusual sight or sound, and unquestionably
implies keen powers of observation coupled with no small degree
of reasoning faculty. Almost every day during the winter of
1864-65 I must have passed within a few paces of Ravens stalking
about the fort; and yet, when I wanted a specimen, it was not an
easy matter to secure one. The birds assuredly knew the
difference between a person going quietly about his business and
one “on mischief bent,” and their intelligent watchfulness
rendered it quite impossible to approach them openly with gun in
hand.
“Ravens are resident in the region about Fort Whipple, and their
apparently diminished number in summer is simply due to the fact
that they are then spread over a greater surface, are less
restless, and better provided for in the matter of food. In
winter, and especially when snow covered the ground, their
numbers at the fort were simply incalculable. They dotted the
ground everywhere during the day, and roosted in crowds on the
neighboring pines by night. One patriarchal tree, that stood
somewhat isolated, was a favorite resting-place for the Ravens
and Buzzards, and gradually assumed a singular appearance, as if
it had been whitewashed. This great pine overlooked a little open
space where our beeves were slaughtered, and the banqueting there
was never ended. All night long the wolves howled and barked as
they tugged at the offal, till daylight sent them reluctant to
their rocky fastnesses, when the great dark birds, with a
premonitory stretching of the wings, flapped down to renew the
feast. The Ravens and Buzzards seemed to get along very well
together, quarrelling no more with each other than each species
did with its own kind; but in the occasional disputes the smaller
birds seemed to have rather the advantage of the heavier and
clumsier gluttons. This comparative good-fellowship was in
striking contrast to the behavior of Crows towards Turkey
Buzzards.
“The Raven is not, on the whole, so noisy a bird as the Crow,
though he croaks vigorously on occasion, and his caw may claim to
be impressive, if not agreeable. But the queer sounds that the
bird can utter, if he be so minded, are indescribable; even his
ordinary cawing is susceptible of considerable modulation. A
favorite amusement of his, when, his hunger appeased for the
time, he feels particularly comfortable, is to settle snugly on
the top of a pine-tree, and talk to himself. The performance
generally begins with a loud caw, self-asserting, followed by a
complacent chuckle; and then comes a series of comical syllables,
so low as to be scarcely audible from the ground below, as if he
were musing aloud, and tickled with his own fancies. Then he will
raise his voice again, and file away at some old saw for a while,
finishing with the inimitable ‘cork-drawing’ for which his tribe
is famous.
“A Raven that I had slightly wounded in the wing and captured
soon became quite tame, and developed a variety of amusing
traits. Proving rather obtrusive and inconvenient in my narrow
quarters, I undertook to tie him in a corner with a string round
his leg. This he objected to, and it was astonishing to see the
perseverance he showed in untying any number of knots I might
make. It was a task that sometimes took him hours, but he never
rested until it was done. I had no chain light enough for the
purpose, but I finally got the better of him by twisting a wire
with the cord. His intelligence did not reach in that direction
more than six inches from his leg.”
Mr. Dresser observed the Raven common at San Antonio, frequenting the
slaughter-houses. In November, in the Baudera Hills, several came to
his camp to feast on the offal of deer. Dr. Woodhouse also found them
very abundant in Texas, the Indian Territory, and New Mexico, and
especially so on the buffalo plains. In the Mexican Boundary Survey,
Dr. Kennerly observed these birds everywhere in Northern Mexico,
flocks of them following the train from point to point. They were not
at all shy, but often came into camp in search of food.
Captain Blakiston, having enjoyed unusual opportunities for observing
the habits of the American Raven during his residence in high northern
regions, characterizes the species as anything but solitary. During
the day they are usually met with in pairs, except when drawn together
in large numbers around the carcass of a dead animal. At night, during
the winter, they repair to some chosen resting-place, usually a clump
of trees on the edge of a prairie, and there roost in one immense
body. One of these roosting-places was about a mile from Fort Carlton,
and Captain Blakiston’s attention was first drawn to it by noticing
that about sunset all the Ravens, from all quarters, were flying
towards this point. Returning to the fort in the evening by that
quarter, he found a clump of aspen-trees, none of them more than
twenty-five feet high, filled with Ravens, who, at his approach, took
wing and flew round and round. He also noted the wonderful regularity
with which they repaired to their roosting-place in the evening and
left it again in the morning, by pairs, on their day’s hunt. They
always left in the morning, within a minute or two of the same time,
earlier and earlier as the days grew longer, on cold or cloudy
mornings a little later, usually just half an hour before sunrise. In
April they all paired off, and their roosting-place became deserted.
During an excursion about one hundred and fifty miles southwest of
Fort Carlton, Captain Blakiston found several nests of Ravens with
eggs, one of which was in a small tree near a lake, and was not more
than fifteen feet above it. It contained six eggs, was about a foot in
diameter, composed of sticks, and was lined with buffalo-hair and
pieces of scarlet cloth, evidently picked up about an Indian
camping-ground.
Dr. Heermann states that while in California he always found the nests
of the Raven placed high on bold precipitous cliffs, secure against
danger; in the vast desolate plains of New Mexico he saw these birds
building on low trees, and even on cactus-plants, less than three feet
from the ground, showing how much circumstances and localities affect
the habits of birds regarding incubation.
A Raven, probably this species, is abundant on the plateau of Mexico.
The Cerro Colorado, near Tehuacan, is the rendezvous of a large number
of these birds, where, according to Sumichrast, at the time of the
flowering of the _maguey_, they gather in great abundance, to feed on
the blossoms of this plant, which are their favorite food.
Mr. Boardman writes me that he has several times collected Ravens’
eggs at Grand Menan, but always found the nest a hard one to take, as
they usually build it under some high cliff. They make a very large
and bulky nest, and, where not disturbed, use it several years in
succession. They also breed very early. He once took a nest with eight
eggs on the 10th of April, when the snow all around was quite deep.
This was sent to the Smithsonian Institution. Its contents nearly
filled a bushel basket. He does not regard the Ravens as migratory.
Though they are apparently more numerous in winter than in summer,
this is probably because they forsake the woods and come about the
open fields and the banks of rivers for dead fish, and thus are more
noticed. They are very shy, sagacious, and vigilant, so much so that
it is almost impossible for one to get a shot at them. Crows avoid
them, and the two are never seen together. The farmers of Grand Menan
accuse them of pecking the eyes out of young lambs, and always try to
destroy them, and they grow less and less numerous every year. The
Ravens, he adds, appear to be on good terms with the Duck Hawks, as he
has known a nest of the former within a few rods of one of the latter.
An egg of this species, from Anderson River, measures 1.96 inches in
length by 1.32 in breadth. Two from Grand Menan measure, one 2.05
inches by 1.30, the other 1.95 by 1.25. The ground-color of two of
these is a soiled sea-green, that of the third is a light
bluish-green. This is more sparingly marked with dots, blotches, and
cloudings of faint purple and purplish-brown, chiefly at the larger
end. The others are marked over the entire egg with blotches of
varying size and depth of coloring, of a deep purple-brown; some of
the markings are not readily distinguishable from black.
Corvus cryptoleucus, COUCH.
WHITE-NECKED CROW.
_Corvus cryptoleucus_, COUCH, Pr. A. N. Sc. VII, April, 1854, 66
(Tamaulipas, Mexico).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 565, pl.
xxii.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 284.
SP. CHAR. The fourth quill is longest; the third and fifth equal; the
second longer than the sixth; the first about equal to the seventh.
Glossy black, with violet reflections; feathers of neck all round,
back, and breast, snow-white at the base. Length, about 21.00; wing,
14.00; tail, 8.50. Feathers of throat lanceolate; bristly feathers
along the base of the bill covering it for nearly two thirds its
length.
HAB. Valley of Rio Grande and Gila. Abundant on the Llano Estacado,
and at Eagle Pass, Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 494). Colorado (AIKEN).
In the white bases to the feathers of the neck, etc., there is a
resemblance in this species to the _C. leucognaphalus_ of Porto Rico;
but the latter has entirely different proportions, blended instead of
lanceolate feathers on the throat, exceedingly short instead of
unusually long nasal plumes, and many other differences, and is in
every feature totally distinct.
HABITS. Of the distinctive habits or the extent of the distribution of
the White-necked Raven we have very little knowledge. It was first
described by Lieutenant Couch, in 1854, from specimens obtained by him
at Charco Escondido, Mexico, in May, 1853. Other specimens were
afterwards procured by Dr. Kennerly, at Janos, Mexico, in 1855, and by
Mr. Dresser at Eagle Pass, Texas, in March, 1864. The latter gives no
notes as to its habits.
Dr. Kennerly’s note in regard to it is that it was not very common,
and when seen was generally associated with the larger species of
Raven. Lieutenant Couch merely mentions it as found in small numbers
in Eastern Tamaulipas, generally near ranches.
Mr. J. H. Clark writes that this species does not seem to possess the
cunning or wariness of its congeners. It was met with, in the greatest
abundance, about watering-places. It was not found habitually in great
flocks, though at the head of the Limpia many were congregated and
flying about the face of an immense rocky mountain wall, where they
were probably nesting. Their note he describes as coarse, and less
shrill than that of the common Crow. He met with the supposed nest in
an arborescent cactus.
Dr. Coues does not appear to have met with this species in Arizona,
but Lieutenant Bendire writes to Professor Baird from Tucson, April
12, 1872, that it is the most common Crow or Raven there. This he
discovered accidentally, finding that three fourths of the Ravens he
shot proved to be of this species; the others were the Colorado race
of the Raven. Specimens of this Crow were obtained at Fort Buchanan by
Dr. Irwin, at Pecos River by Dr. Anderson, and in the Indian Territory
by Mr. McCarthy.
An egg of this species, from Trout Creek, Texas, obtained June 20 by
Charles S. McCarthy, measures 1.75 inches in length by 1.25 in
breadth. The ground-color is a light grayish-green, and is pretty
uniformly marked with fine dottings of mingled purple and brown.
Corvus americanus, AUD.
COMMON CROW.
_Corvus corone_, WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 79, pl. 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, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 317; V,
477, pl. clvi.—IB. Syn. 1839, 150.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842,
87, pl. ccxxv.—BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
385.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 221.—MAXIM. Reise, I,
1839, 140.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, P. R. R. Rep. VI,
IV, 1857, 82.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 566, pl. xxiii.—MAX.
Caban. J. VI, 1858, 198.—SCHLEGEL, Notice sur les Corbeaux,
10, pl. i, f. 16.—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1861, 226.—SAMUELS,
357.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 297 (in part).
SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; second shorter than sixth; first
shorter than ninth. Glossy black with violet reflections, even on the
belly. Length, 19.00 to 20.00; wing, 13.00 to 13.50; tail about 8.00.
Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw.
HAB. United States, from Atlantic to Pacific; rare in the Middle
Province and on Missouri Plains, and on northwest coast. N. E. Texas
(DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 494). North to Great Slave Lake, Fort Rae, and
Nelson River, H. B. T.
The _C. americanus_ has no analogue in Europe, though the _C. corone_
somewhat resembles it. The most important feature of distinction
appears to lie in the structure of the feathers of the head and neck,
which in _C. corone_ are narrow, with the tips distinct, while in the
American bird these tips are blended together and do not maintain
their individuality. The feathers on the fore-neck in _corone_ are
also lanceolate and distinct, showing the outline of each one as in
the Raven, while in the American Crow they are three times as broad,
rounded, and entirely blended. Mr. Audubon further remarks that the
neck of the European bird is glossed with green and blue, while that
of the American has a decided purplish-brown tinge.
Prince Maximilian states, in addition, that the note differs in the
two species.
HABITS. The Common Crow of North America is found in great abundance
in all the Eastern States, from Texas to Florida, and from the
Missouri to Nova Scotia. A few are found beyond the Great Plains, and
they also extend their migrations, in summer, into high Arctic
regions. Richardson found them as far north as the 55th parallel, but
was in error when he stated that beyond this they do not go. He adds
that none approach within five or six hundred miles of Hudson’s Bay.
They were observed at Cross Lake and at Lake Winnepeg by Mr.
Kennicott, at Big Island by Mr. Reid, at Fort Rae by Mr. Clarke, and
at Fort Anderson and on the Lower Anderson River by Mr. MacFarlane,
who also found them breeding even at this high latitude. They were not
seen in Russian America, and Dr. Cooper thinks that the species does
not occur in California, or, if at all, only rarely, but that it is
there replaced by _C. caurinus_.
Mr. Ridgway found the Crow of very rare occurrence in the interior. A
very few were seen in the Truckee meadows, in November, and others at
the Humboldt marshes, in October. These western birds were exceedingly
unsuspicious and familiar, so much so that those seen in the Humboldt
marshes were walking about with all the familiarity of domestic
pigeons, only hopping aside as they were approached. None were seen
either in spring or summer.
In Western Iowa Mr. Allen states that he saw but very few of this
species, and even in Northern Illinois it was not very common. At the
West this bird is reported to be held in better estimation than at the
East, by the farmers. It is not known to pull corn, and seems to be
entirely unsuspicious. It is regarded generally as a benefactor, and
not only deserves, but receives, good treatment. In Indiana he found
it more common.
Dr. Coues met with a single individual on the Labrador coast. In Nova
Scotia it is much more abundant, and there, as on the Western
prairies, being unmolested by the inhabitants, it is exceedingly
unsuspicious, and will permit a very near approach before it will fly,
and even then will not move to a distance. In all of the United States
east of the Mississippi it is very abundant. In Texas, between San
Antonio and the Mexican frontier, it is not common; but Mr. Dresser
found it very common in the northeast part of the State during the
whole year.
Probably no one of our birds, so wholly worthless for food, has been
more hunted and destroyed than this species. In certain parts of the
country it is held in great aversion by the farmers, and in some
States bounty-laws have been enacted by legislatures to promote its
destruction. Had not these birds been possessed of an extraordinary
intelligence, they must long since have been exterminated or driven
from a large part of the country. In some sections their numbers have
been of late much diminished by the use of strychnine. During the
month of May the Crow is very destructive in the cornfield, pulling up
the grains as soon as they begin to vegetate, and compelling the
farmer to replant perhaps several times. Wilson remarks that in the
State of Delaware these birds collect in immense flocks and commit
great devastation upon crops of standing corn. They also occasionally
commit depredations in the barn-yard, robbing hens’-nests of their
eggs, and even destroying young chickens. They also destroy the eggs
and young of other birds. The mischief they thus do is doubtless very
great, and the ground for the prevalent prejudice against them is
quite apparent. Yet it is equally demonstrable that this bird is
surpassed, and probably is equalled, by no other in the vast amount of
the benefits conferred upon agriculturalists. The evil it perpetrates
is very limited, and is confined to but a short period, but during all
the time it is resident the Crow is constantly engaged in the
destruction of injurious insects and rodent quadrupeds. In the early
spring it feeds almost wholly upon the most destructive grubs, and in
extensive districts of Massachusetts, where these birds have been
largely destroyed, the ravages of the May-bugs and the grasshoppers in
pasture-lands have been a natural consequence of so short-sighted a
policy.
The persecutions to which the Crow is subjected have developed in them
a wariness and a distrust that is foreign to their nature. They can
only live by keeping on a constant lookout for dangers, and by
learning to distinguish the weapons that threaten their destruction.
As soon as anything is seen that causes alarm, the signal is at once
given, and the warning passed from one to another.
In New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, during the winter months, the Crows
assemble in immense flocks, and their movements appear to be regulated
by the guidance of a few chosen leaders. I received from the lips of
the late John Cassin, an ornithologist hardly less remarkable for his
outdoor observations than for his researches in the closet, only a few
days before his death, a very surprising account of the movements of a
large army of Crows, witnessed by himself, in the spring of 1868.
On a Sunday morning in April, when Philadelphia was enveloped in a fog
so dense and impenetrable that it was hardly possible to distinguish
objects across its streets, Mr. Cassin’s attention was called to an
immense accumulation of these birds in Independence Square. The whole
park he found, to his utter astonishment, occupied by an immense army
of Crows. They filled all the trees, bending down the overloaded
branches, and swarmed over and covered the ground. The entire space
seemed alive with Crows. They had evidently become bewildered in the
fog, and had strangely taken refuge in this small park in the very
heart of Philadelphia. As if aware of their close proximity to danger,
the whole assembly was quiet, orderly, and silent. A few birds,
evidently acting as leaders, moved noiselessly back and forth through
their ranks, as if giving tacit signals. These movements were followed
by the departure of a few scouts, as if sent to make explorations, but
they soon returned unsuccessful. Again were repeated the uneasy
movements of their leaders, passing slowly and cautiously through
their close ranks. After an apparently much longer consultation,
another small party ascended to explore, wheeling round and round in
wider and wider zones. At length, satisfied with their observations,
they quietly returned, and made their report in a manner evidently
understood, though not audibly expressed; for immediately the leaders
passed again among the crowd, and, as if signals were given for a
general movement, the whole of this immense congregation, numbering,
Mr. Cassin estimated, hundreds of thousands, rose slowly and silently,
preceded by their scouts, and, moving off in a westerly direction,
were soon lost to view.
When taken young, the Crow can be easily domesticated, and becomes a
very entertaining, but a very mischievous pet. It is very secretive,
hiding objects of no value to itself, and seems to delight in
mischief. It displays often a wonderful intelligence, appears to
understand and to obey certain directions, and manifests also
remarkable quickness of vision. A tame Crow belonging to a family
resident near Boston, and permitted to go at large, manifested all the
attachment of a dog. It especially enjoyed the society of the
children, and played with them in their games of hide and seek,
surpassing them by its readiness in finding the secreted object. It
was especially attached to the mistress of the house, flying to her
whenever she approached, hovering over her head, and alighting on her
shoulder.
In a few instances the Crow has been taught to imitate articulate
sounds. In one of these, in Grafton, Mass., the Crow not only
vociferated a single monosyllable repeatedly, but at other times
enunciated a short sentence of five syllables.
A few are resident in Massachusetts during the year, but the greater
portion move south in November and return in March. Those who remain
during the winter are chiefly resident near the sea-shore. The Crow
breeds from April to June, varying with the latitude of its residence.
In Massachusetts it has full-grown young by June 1. It builds, usually
in March, a large rudely constructed nest of sticks, moss, and bark,
lined with finer mosses, and sometimes with hair. The parent birds are
very watchful and vigilant if their nest is in danger, and often
expose their lives in their anxiety for their young. The male bird is
attentive to his mate during incubation, and assists in feeding the
young. The young are fed chiefly on insects, frogs, mice, and similar
food.
The eggs of the Crow vary from 1.60 to 1.55 inches in length, and from
1.20 to 1.10 in breadth. In their markings they exhibit surprising
variations. They usually have a ground of a light sea-green, over
which are scattered, more or less thickly, blotches, some of them
quite large, of a dark-brown, almost black, with purplish reflections.
These are chiefly about the larger end. Another quite common variety
is of a deeper ground of green, very uniformly and thickly sprinkled
with fine dottings of a sepia-brown. Others have a ground nearly
white, slightly tinged with green, more sparingly spotted with small
blotches of light purplish-brown. A nest found near Springfield
contained eggs having the ground-color on one side a pinkish-gray, the
rest being greenish-white, all spotted with brown. Another set of eggs
from Hudson, Mass., were of a light bluish-green, entirely unspotted,
resembling large Robin’s eggs; and Dr. Wood mentions another four, the
ground of which was flesh-color, and the spots red.
Corvus americanus, var. floridanus, BAIRD.
FLORIDA CROW.
_Corvus americanus_, var. _floridanus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 568, pl.
lxvii, f. 1. _C. americanus_, ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 297.
SP. CHAR. About the size of _C. americanus_, but bill and feet larger.
Tail less rounded. Third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal; third
rather longer than fifth. Color less violet above. Length, 19.50;
wing, 12.00; tail, 7.70; tarsus, 2.60.
HAB. Southern peninsula of Florida.
This resident Crow of Florida differs in some marked features from
that of the more northern localities in several characters. Although
perhaps rather smaller, the bill and feet, especially the latter, are
very considerably larger. The nasal feathers extend over the basal two
fifths of the bill, instead of the half. The proportions of the bill
are about the same; in the Florida bird it is rather the longer. The
greatest difference is in the feet. The tarsal joint of the tibia is
bare, the feathers scarcely coming below it, even anteriorly, instead
of projecting some distance. The tarsus is almost a quarter of an inch
longer, covered anteriorly by nine scutellæ, instead of eight. The
outer lateral toe is shorter, not reaching the base of the middle
claw. The middle toe and claw are considerably shorter than the
tarsus; the middle claw is shorter than in the northern bird.
The wing-formula differs somewhat; the third, fourth, and fifth quills
are nearly equal, the third even longer than the fifth, instead of
shorter. The tail is short and very nearly even, the difference in
length of feathers being less than half an inch, instead of an inch.
This, however, may in part be owing to the absence of the middle pair.
The colors differ somewhat from those of the common Crow. There is
less violet, and the feathers of the back have almost a brassy gloss
on their margins, as in _Crotophaga_.
The specimen upon which these remarks are based, though apparently
perfectly mature, is changing some of its feathers, such as the inner
primaries, the middle tail-feathers, and the greater coverts. The long
primaries and ten tail-feathers, however, are of full length. It is
possible that the bird is really as large as the northern Crow,
although this is hardly probable. It was killed on the mainland of the
extreme southern portion of Florida, not far from Fort Dallas.
No comparison of this bird is required with the Fish Crow, which has
the middle toe and claw longer than the tarsus, not shorter, and the
proportions much less.
HABITS. The common resident Crow of Florida exhibits so many
peculiarities differing from the northern species, that Professor
Baird, in his Birds of America, deemed it worthy of mention at least
as a race, if not a distinct species. We have no account of its
habits, and do not know if, in any respects, they differ from those of
the common Crow. Dr. J. C. Cooper, in his brief manuscript notes on
the birds of Florida, made in the spring of 1859, speaks of the
Florida Crow as very common, as being quite maritime in its habits,
and as having full-fledged young on the 20th of April. Three eggs of
this race, obtained in Florida in the spring of 1871, by Mr. Maynard,
differ not more from those of the Crow than do those of the latter
occasionally from one another. They measure 1.73 by 1.20 inches; 1.70
by 1.20; and 1.54 by 1.25. Their ground-color is a bright
bluish-green, and they are all more or less marked, over the entire
egg, with blotches of a mingled bronze and brown with violet shadings.
The latter tints are more marked in one egg than in the others, and in
this the spots are fewer and more at one end, the larger end being
nearly free from markings. Their average capacity, as compared with
the average of the _C. americanus_, is as 5.1 to 4.2.
Corvus caurinus, BAIRD.
NORTHWESTERN FISH CROW.
_Corvus caurinus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 569, pl. xxiv.—COOPER
& SUCKLEY, 211, pl. xxiv.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chic. Ac. I,
1869, 286 (Alaska).—FINSCH, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41
(Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 285.
SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; fifth and third about equal; second
longer than sixth; first shorter than ninth. Color black, glossed with
purple. Tail nearly even. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw.
Length about 16.50; wing about 11.00; tail about 7.00.
HAB. Northwestern coast, from Columbia River to Sitka.
This species is readily distinguished from the eastern Fish Crow by
the larger size; the absence of green gloss on the belly; the tarsi
longer than the middle toe and claw, instead of shorter; and the
second quill being generally shorter than the sixth instead of longer,
and considerably shorter than the culmen, instead of longer.
It is rather to be compared with _C. americanus_, with which it agrees
in colors, but from which it differs, essentially, in having the wing
and tail very much shorter, while the bill is considerably longer, and
in having the tarsus shorter than the culmen, instead of longer, as in
all the other North American species. In this last respect it agrees
with _C. mexicanus_ (see synopsis, p. 829) of Western Mexico; in this,
however, the color and proportions are entirely different.
HABITS. This species appears to be confined to the seaboard of the
Pacific, from Alaska to California inclusive. Smaller than the common
Crow, in its more essential features it closely resembles that bird,
while in all its habits it appears the exact counterpart of the Fish
Crow, from which it is specifically and essentially distinct.
It is found as far north as Sitka, several specimens having been
procured at that point by Mr. Bischoff.
In the opinion of Dr. Suckley, the marked differences in the habits of
this species from those of the common Crow, even more than the great
difference in size, sufficiently mark them as entirely distinct. The
western Fish Crow is never wary or suspicious, like the common
species, but in its impudent familiarity with man resembles the
English Jackdaw, and hardly learns to be shy even after having been
annoyed with the gun. In Oregon and Washington Territory, he states,
this Crow is very abundant, and is one of the marked ornithological
features of the country. The great abundance of fish, especially of
salmon, in both of these divisions, amply supplies this species with
food. At Puget Sound it is abundant throughout the year. During the
winter it subsists principally upon the refuse food and offal thrown
out by the natives from their lodges. He describes it as cunning, but
very tame and impudent, allowing a very near approach, and retiring
but a short distance when pursued. Like the Raven and the Herring
Gull, these birds are in the habit of carrying clams high into the air
and then dropping them, in order to break the shell. Dr. Suckley
observed one fruitlessly trying to break the shell of a clam by
letting it drop on soft ground. In this effort he persisted
perseveringly as long as he was watched.
Dr. Suckley found a nest of this species at Fort Dalles. It was
situated in a dense willow-thicket, near a lagoon on the Columbia, and
contained three eggs. He describes them as about an inch and a half
long, and very wide in their short diameter, of a dirty green ground
with brown spots.
Dr. Cooper speaks of it as much more gregarious and familiar than the
common Crow, but otherwise resembling that bird in habits, being very
sagacious, feeding upon almost everything animal and vegetable,
differing rather in the tone than in the character of its cries. Its
chief dependence for food being on the sea, it is generally found
along the beach, devouring dead fish and other objects thrown up by
the waves. At high tide the birds leave the shore and resort to
dwellings near the sea, where they devour the offal and any refuse,
vegetable or animal. As soon as the tide changes they are sure to
notice it and to return to their favorite feeding-ground. They are
very troublesome to the Indians, stealing their fish exposed for
drying, and other articles of food. From some superstitious awe of
them the Indians never molest these birds, but set their children to
watch and drive them away. They build in trees near the shore, and the
young are fledged in May.
In the southern half of California, Dr. Cooper states, these birds are
rarely seen near the sea, preferring inland districts, and only
occasionally coming to the shores of the bays to feed. During most of
the year they associate in large flocks, feeding in company, and are
gregarious even in the breeding-season, building in close proximity to
one another. Frequently several nests may be found on the same tree.
In this respect they are very unlike the eastern species, which never
permit another pair near their nest.
These birds were found by Dr. Cooper breeding as far south as San
Diego, where they selected for their breeding-places the groves of
evergreen oaks growing in ravines. Their nests were from twelve to
forty feet from the ground. In the north they generally build in
spruces. He describes their nests as strongly built of sticks, coarse
on the outside, but finer on the inside, where they are mingled with
roots, grasses, moss, horse-hair, etc., to form a soft lining. The
eggs, four in number, have a ground-color of a dark shade of green,
thickly marked with dark brown and olive. He gives their average
measurement as 1.60 by 1.10 inches. At San Diego they are laid about
April 15.
Where unmolested, these birds have not yet become so shy as in the
older districts, but they soon learn to apprehend the danger of a gun,
and to evince the cunning characteristics of their tribe. They have
not, as yet, manifested any disposition to disturb the growing crops,
and the small depredations they commit are far more than
counterbalanced by their destruction of immense numbers of grubs,
grasshoppers, and other injurious insects. They obtain a large supply
of food around the cattle-ranches.
In northern California they feed largely on fish, and on the Columbia
on clams and oysters.
For reasons not well understood, they avoid particular districts
during the breeding-season. Dr. Cooper has never noticed one, during
this season, on the coast south of Santa Clara, has never seen one in
the Colorado Valley, nor in the Sierra Nevada.
At Visalia, where an extensive forest of oaks forms an oasis in the
great Tulare plain, he met with large flocks of these birds, with the
same gregarious habits as were observed on the coast.
During the month of July, 1866, a large number of these Crows came
every evening to roost in an alder-grove near the town of Santa Cruz.
They gathered in long, continuous flocks from the neighboring fields,
flying rather high. All at once they would descend, with zigzag turns,
to the low trees, sportively chasing and pecking at one another, and
chattering in the air.
Mr. John K. Lord, who enjoyed an unusually good opportunity of
comparing the habits of our common Crow with those of this species,
has not the slightest doubt as to their distinctness, though so very
like in all essential respects, as far as color, form of bill, and
other details are concerned. The smaller size of this bird, the
difference in voice, and their habit of building with mud a domed
nest, sufficiently demonstrate their difference. This Crow he found
principally near the sea-coast; retiring to the trees at high tide,
following out its ebb and retreating before its flood, they feed on
any marine food they can find. The caw of this species reminded him of
the Jackdaws of Europe. During the breeding-season they abandoned the
coast, from early May resorting by pairs to the interior. Selecting
patches of open prairie, they build their nests in the bushes of the
crab-apple or wild thorn, and something in the manner of the Magpie,
arching over the top with sticks, with two openings for entrance and
exit on either side. The inside is plastered with mud, and lined with
a few loose grass-stalks. The eggs he found generally small, and of a
lighter color than those of the common Crow. After nesting, they
return with their young to the sea-coast, and remain in large flocks.
During the breeding-season they feed on small reptiles, freshwater
mollusks, insects, grubs, etc. Mr. Lord noticed them capturing
butterflies flying near their nests. Their eggs range in number from
five to seven.
An egg of this species from Sitka measures 1.62 inches in length by
1.12 in breadth. It is of an oblong-oval shape, pointed at one end.
The ground-color is a light sea-green, with marks and blotches of
olive-brown, of varying size and different shades.
Corvus ossifragus, WILSON.
FISH CROW.
_Corvus ossifragus_, WILSON, Am. Orn. V, 1812, 27, pl. xxxvii, f.
2.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 39.—IB. Syn. 1828, 57.—IB.
Conspectus, 1850, 385.—WAGLER, Syst. Avium, 1827, _Corvus_,
No. 12.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 216.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834,
268; V, 479, pl. cxlvi.—IB. Syn. 1839, 151.—IB. Birds Am. IV,
1842, 94, pl. ccxxvi.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 571, pl.
lxvii, f. 2.—SAMUELS, 363.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 297.
SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; second rather longer than seventh;
first shorter than the ninth. Glossy black, with green and violet
reflections; the gloss of the belly greenish. Length, about 15.50;
wing, 10.50; tail, less than 7.00; tarsus shorter than the middle toe
and claw.
HAB. Atlantic coast, from New Jersey to Florida.
The Fish Crow of the Atlantic States is readily distinguishable from
the common Crow by the much smaller size (16 inches instead of 20;
wing, about 11 inches instead of 13); the bill is broader at the base
and tapers more rapidly to the end; the middle toe and claw are longer
than the scutellate portion of the tarsus, not shorter, the inner claw
not reaching to the base of the middle one. The tail is less rounded.
The gloss on the belly is green instead of violet; that on the back is
mixed with green, not entirely violet.
HABITS. The Fish Crow of Eastern North America has a distribution
restricted to the Southern Atlantic and the Gulf shore. It is found in
the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia,
the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and, according to Audubon, thence
to the mouth of the Mississippi. West of that river it appears to be
very rarely met with. Dr. Würdemann obtained it at Calcasieu, La. Mr.
Allen, in a list of the birds of Massachusetts, published in 1864,
names this species as an occasional visitor along the southern coast
of that State, but I am not able to find any corroboration of the
statement, and believe it to be a mistake. Dr. De Kay, in his Report
on the birds of New York, states that this Crow is occasionally seen
on the shores of Long Island, but Mr. Lawrence is confident that it
never occurs farther north than Squaw Beach, in New Jersey. So, too,
Mr. Townsend is quoted by both Audubon and Nuttall as authority for
its occurrence on the Columbia River, of which we have no
confirmation.
This species was first described by Wilson, who met with it and
observed its habits on the sea-coast of Georgia. In some respects its
habits were the exact reverse of those of the common Crow, as the
former regularly retired at evening into the interior to roost, and
came down to the shores of the river Savannah, on the first appearance
of day, to feed. Its voice first attracted his notice; there was
something in it very different from the utterances of the Crow, being
more hoarse and guttural, and more varied in its modulations. The mode
of flight was also observed to be quite different, as the Fish Crow
occasionally soars about in the manner of the Raven and of Hawks,
without flapping its wings,—a flight which the Crow is never observed
to make, and is probably not able to execute.
The food was also observed to be unlike, as well as the manner of
procuring it. The favorite haunt of this species seemed to be the
banks of the river, up and down which they soared, and in a very
dexterous manner snatched up with their claws dead fish, or other
garbage found floating on the surface. This Crow was also seen to
perch frequently on the back of cattle, in the manner of the Jackdaw
of Europe. It was never seen to mingle with the common Crows; and
never, like the latter, roosts among the reeds and marshes near the
water, but always seeks the shelter of the woods, in which to pass the
night.
Afterwards, in his journey near the Mississippi, Wilson observed the
same birds frequenting the borders of rivers and ponds, and feeding on
the reptiles found in those waters. They were close attendants upon
the cow-yards, and were more solitary, but much less shy and
suspicious, than the common Crow. This species was also observed by
Wilson in Cape May County, New Jersey, and in the regions bordering on
the Schuylkill and the Delaware, near Philadelphia, during the shad
and herring fishing, or from March till June.
During the breeding-season they were observed to separate into pairs,
and to build their nests in tall trees near the sea or the river
shore. One of their nests was in a tall wood at Great Egg Harbor, and
they were presumed to have four or five young at a time.
In the District of Columbia, Dr. Coues found the Fish Crow to be an
abundant resident throughout the year, less wary and suspicious than
the common Crow, and more confined to the borders of rivers. It was
generally confounded with _C. americanus_.
The Fish Crow appears to have received, even if it does not merit, an
exemption from the general unpopularity of its race. It is generally
believed to be at least a harmless species, and in its destruction of
reptiles and vermin to be even beneficial. This belief, we apprehend,
is for the most part well founded. Yet Mr. Audubon accuses these Crows
of entering gardens and feeding upon the best fruits. He also states
that, near Charleston, they commit such depredations upon the ripe
figs, and become so troublesome generally in the gardens, that it is
often found necessary to station a man near the fig-trees to shoot and
destroy them.
The Fish Crow is confined either to the maritime districts or to the
banks of rivers branching from them. Audubon states that they ascend
the Delaware to quite a distance, and that some breed in New Jersey
every year, but that all retire to the South on the approach of cold
weather. Some go up the Mississippi to the distance of five hundred
miles, but return to the seashore in the winter. In East Florida,
where they were very abundant, Mr. Audubon found them breeding in
February, in South Carolina on the 20th of March, and in New Jersey a
month later. On the St. John’s River, during February, he saw them in
flocks of several hundred, but all seemed mated and to move in pairs,
sailing high in the air in the manner of Ravens. After these aerial
excursions the whole body descended to the water’s edge to feed. When
their fishing was over, they would alight in flocks on the live-oaks
near the shore, and there keep up their gabbling, while they plumed
themselves, for hours. They then returned to their fishing-grounds,
where they remained until near sunset, moving into the interior to
great distances, to roost on the loblolly-pines. These retreats were
made in silence, but their return to the sea-shore in the early
morning was made with noisy and lively demonstrations. They were then
to be seen among the bays, rivers, salt ponds, and marshes, searching
for small fry, and picking up any garbage they might find.
Mr. Audubon also accuses them of robbing other birds of their eggs and
young. This was especially observed on the Florida Keys, where they
even dared to plunder the nests of the Cormorants and White Ibis. They
feed largely on the small crabs called fiddlers, which they pursue and
easily capture in their burrows. He has also seen them attack and
pursue small Gulls and Terns, and attempt to make them disgorge the
fish they have caught; but as the flight of the latter is swifter,
they are frequently unsuccessful in these attempts at robbery. This
Crow can catch living fish with considerable dexterity, but cannot
feed while on the wing.
During the winter and early spring, Mr. Audubon states that these
birds feed on various kinds of berries, especially those of the _Ilex
cassina_ and of the common holly, and those of the exotic tallow-tree,
now so common near Charleston (_Stillingia sebifera_). In January and
February these trees are much resorted to by the Crows, who greedily
devour their white and oily seeds.
Mr. Audubon found these birds breeding generally on moderate-sized
trees of the loblolly-pine, building their nests towards the
extremities of the branches, about twenty feet from the ground. The
nests are smaller than those of the Crow, and are built of sticks,
lined with dry grasses and moss, and neatly finished with fine fibrous
roots. The eggs are five or six in number, and resemble those of the
Crow, but are smaller.
Two eggs of this species, from St. Simon’s Island, measure, one 1.50
in length by 1.10 in breadth, the other 1.52 by 1.09. Their
ground-color is a light blue with a slight greenish tinge, marked over
the entire egg with small blotches of a light brown. An egg from Great
Egg Harbor, obtained by Wilson, from the old Peale Museum, and which
may be a faded specimen, has no tinge of blue or green, but a ground
of pinkish-gray, marked with smaller blotches and cloudings of dark
drab. It measures 1.46 inches in length by one inch in breadth.
GENUS PICICORVUS, BONAP.
_Picicorvus_, BONAPARTE, Consp. Av. 1850, 384. (Type, _Corvus
columbianus_, WILS.)
[Illustration: _Picicorvus columbianus._]
GEN. CHAR. Leaden-gray color, with black wings and tail. Bill longer
than the head, considerably longer than the tarsus, attenuated,
slightly decurved; tip without notch. Culmen and commissure curved;
gonys straight or slightly concave, as long as the tarsi. Nostrils
circular, completely covered by a full tuft of incumbent white bristly
feathers. Tail much shorter than the wings, nearly even or slightly
rounded. Wings pointed, reaching to the tip of tail. Third, fourth,
and fifth quills longest. Tarsi short, scarcely longer than the middle
toe, the hind toe and claw very large, reaching nearly to the middle
of the middle claw, the lateral toe little shorter. A row of small
scales on the middle of the sides of tarsus. Color of the single
species leaden-gray, with black wings and tail.
[Line drawing: _Picicorvus columbianus._
4461]
[Line drawing: _Nucifraga caryocatactes._
9673]
This genus is so similar to _Nucifraga_ as to be hardly separable; the
principal difference being in the slender and more decurved and
attenuated bill, with a slightly concave, instead of convex, culmen,
and plain instead of spotted plumage. The differences of form are
expressed by the accompanying outlines of the generic features of the
two. But one species is known, this being peculiar to Western North
America.
Picicorvus columbianus, BONAP.
CLARKE’S CROW.
_Corvus columbianus_, WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 29, pl. xx.—BON.
Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 38.—IB. Syn. 1828, 57.—NUTTALL, I,
1832, 218. _Nucifraga columbiana_, AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838,
459, pl. ccclxii.—IB. Syn. 1839, 156.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842,
127, pl. ccxxxv.—BON. List, 1838.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,)
251. _Picicorvus columbianus_, BONAP. Consp. 1850,
384.—NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1837, 83.—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 573.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 121 (British
Columbia).—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chic. Ac. I, 1869,
286.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 289. “_Corvus megonyx_,
WAGLER.”
SP. CHAR. Tail rounded or moderately graduated, the closed wings
reaching nearly to its tip. Fourth quill longest; second considerably
shorter than the sixth. General color bluish-ash, changing on the
nasal feathers, the forehead, sides of head (especially around the
eye), and chin, to white. The wings, including their inner surface,
greenish-black, the secondaries and tertials, except the innermost,
broadly tipped with white; tail white, the inner web of the fifth
feather and the whole of the sixth, with the upper tail-coverts,
greenish-black. The axillars plumbeous-black. Bill and feet black.
Young similar in color, without additional markings of any kind. The
gonys, however, convex, and the bill generally more like that of the
Jays. Length of male (fresh), 12.00; wing, 7.00; tail, 4.30; tarsus,
1.20.
HAB. From Rocky Mountains to Pacific. East to Fort Kearney, north to
Sitka, south to Arizona.
HABITS. Clarke’s Crow was first met with by the parties composing the
celebrated exploring party to the Rocky Mountains under the direction
of Lewis and Clarke. It was described by Wilson in 1811, who was
informed by individuals belonging to the expedition that these birds
were found inhabiting the shores of the Columbia and the adjacent
country in great numbers, frequenting the rivers and sea-shore, and
that it seemed to have all the noisy and gregarious habits of the
common Crow of Europe.
In his account of this species, Mr. Nuttall states that during his
journey westward in the month of July, he first observed individuals
of this bird in a small grove of pines on the borders of Bear River,
near where it falls into Lake Timpanagos. This was at a height of
about seven thousand feet above the sea level, and in the 42d
parallel. Their habits appeared to him to correspond with those of the
Nutcrackers of Europe.
He afterwards saw a considerable flock of the young birds early in
August, in a lofty ravine near the Three Buttes, a remarkable isolated
mountain group about forty miles west of the Lewis River. They
appeared somewhat shy, and were scattered through a grove of aspens,
flying, with a slight chatter, from the tops of bushes and trees, to
the ground. He was of the opinion that this species never descends
below the mountain plains, but that it has a constant predilection for
the pine forests.
Mr. Townsend afterwards found this species abundant on the Blue
Mountains of Oregon. He describes its flight as very unlike that of a
Crow, being performed in jerks, in the manner of a Woodpecker. At
times, when sitting, it is said to keep up a constant scream, in a
very harsh and grating voice, and in an unvaried and prolonged tone.
He states that it breeds in very high pine-trees, and that he did not
meet with it within five hundred miles of the Columbia River.
Mr. Ridgway found this species one of the most abundant birds of the
pine forests of the Sierra Nevada. East of this range it was also met
with, though only in smaller numbers, in the cedar and piñon woods of
the East Humboldt Mountains. He adds that it is a bird so curiously
striking as at once to attract attention. It bears but very little
resemblance to any bird of its family, and in its general appearance,
flight, and notes approaches so nearly to the Woodpeckers as to be
usually known to the settlers as a bird of that tribe.
He further remarks that its flight much resembles that of _Melanerpes
torquatus_, and, as it alights from the top of a tall dead tree, and
sits quietly gazing around, it might readily be mistaken for one of
the _Picidæ_. He describes them as being very active in their
movements, now flying from a tree to the ground to pick up some
article of food, now examining the excavations of an old dead stump or
snag, or, on being approached, as flying up and alighting upon the
extreme summit of a tree, out of gunshot. It is a very noisy bird, and
its notes are harsh and discordant, though less so than are those of
the Steller’s Jay, which is generally seen in the same localities. Its
usual note is a harsh guttural _churr-churr_, generally uttered when
two or more alight on the same tree. Occasionally an individual takes
up a peculiar piping strain, which is immediately answered by all the
others in the neighborhood, thus awakening the echoes of the
surrounding solitude with their discordant cries. In regard to its
nest he can give no positive information, but thinks that they breed
in cavities in old dead trees and stumps, having found a nest in such
a situation in the East Humboldt Mountains, which he thinks belonged
to a pair of these birds which were flying about, and seen to enter
this cavity.
Dr. Newberry, in his Report on the zoölogy of his route, states that
he found this species rather common along a large portion of it, and
was thus enabled to study its habits at leisure. He found it strictly
confined to the highlands and mountains, never, where he saw it,
descending to a lower altitude than about four thousand feet. On the
other hand, while crossing the Cascade Mountains at the line of
perpetual snow, seven thousand feet above the sea-level, he has seen
this bird, in company with the _Melanerpes torquatus_, flying over the
snow-covered peaks three thousand feet above him.
He first met with this bird on the spur of the Sierra Nevada, near
Lassen’s Butte, and found it constantly, when in high and timbered
regions, from there to the Columbia. He describes its habits as a
compound, in about equal parts of those of the Jays and of the
Woodpeckers. Its cry he speaks of as particularly harsh and
disagreeable, something like that of Steller’s Jay, but louder and
more discordant. It seems to combine the shrewdness with all the
curiosity of the Jays and Crows, and from its shyness is a very
difficult bird to shoot, the Doctor never being able to get directly
within killing distance of one of them, but only obtaining specimens
by concealing himself and waiting for them to approach him. Apparently
from excess of caution, it almost invariably alights on a dry tree.
Even when going to a living tree for its food, it always flies first
into a dry one, if one is near, to reconnoitre, and, if the coast is
clear, it begins to feed. At the first movement of an intruder,
without uttering a note, it puts a safe distance between itself and
its enemy.
The food of this bird, at the time when Dr. Newberry visited its
haunts, consisted exclusively of the seeds of the yellow pine (_P.
ponderosa_), in dislodging which from the cones the bird displays
great dexterity. Both Maximilian’s Jay and Steller’s Jay were, at that
time, feeding on the same seeds, but not so exclusively.
Dr. Suckley obtained a specimen of this bird as far east as Milk
River, in Nebraska, about two hundred miles east of the Rocky
Mountains.
In crossing the Cascade Mountains, in 1853, Dr. Cooper found these
birds quite abundant on the banks of the Yakima River, and from thence
north wherever there were trees of the long-leaved pine, the seeds of
which were its principal food. On returning to Vancouver during the
severe cold weather of the following January, these birds appeared
there in considerable numbers. At no other season of the year has he
met with them west of the Cascade Mountains, and believes these
migrations westward are only made in the severest weather. They extend
eastward throughout Washington Territory, as Dr. Cooper has shot them
at Fort Laramie, and met with a straggling pair even as far east as
Fort Kearney. Dr. Cooper has never known these birds to eat anything
except seeds and berries. They rarely descend to the ground, and never
frequent river-banks, or other places, for fish or carrion. They may
be seen on the tops of trees extracting seeds from cones, hanging head
downwards, like a Chickadee. Dr. Cooper has observed this bird pecking
at dead bark, in quest of insects. When feeding they are very shy,
flying off, if approached, to a great distance before alighting. They
are not known to visit the Coast Mountains south of San Francisco, but
abound in the Rocky Mountains throughout our limits.
Mr. J. K. Lord notes the arrival of this species at Fort Colville, in
May, in large flocks. They were hopping busily from branch to branch,
amidst pine-trees.
The statement made to Wilson that this species frequents rivers and
seashores, and his inference that its formidable claws indicated that
they feed on living animals, is controverted by Mr. Lord. They never
frequent river-banks, never by any chance eat fish, and never capture
any living thing. Their habits are strictly arboreal, and their food
the seeds of pine-trees. These noisy seed-hunters use their formidable
claws to enable them to hang on to the pine cones while they are
extracting the seed, which they are obliged to get out from under
scaly coverings. For this nature has given them feet and claws that
serve the purpose of hands, and a powerful bill, like a small crowbar.
The cone must be steadied when they pry it open, or it would snap and
fall. One foot clasps it, and the powerful claws hold it firmly. The
other foot, encircling a branch, supports the bird in every possible
position, the long grasping claws being equal to any emergency. The
cone is thus fixed, and the seeds are forced out from under the
scales. Mr. Lord collected a large packet of seeds of the _Abies
douglassi_ from the crops of these birds.
On their arrival they assemble in immense flocks, and the noise they
make he describes as a most discordant, continuous, grating clatter,
intensified at times into a perfect shriek. These assemblies last
about a week, after which they separate in pairs.
A nest of this bird was found by Mr. Lord in the top of a lofty pine
at least two hundred feet high,—felled in cutting the boundary line.
By chance he discovered the nest, about which the old birds were
hovering, leaving no doubt of its identity. This nest was very large
and composed of fir twigs, bits of bark, the leaves of the pine, fine
root-fibres, with small pieces of moss, and gray lichens mixed
carelessly with the other materials. It was shallow and round, and
presented a large extent of surface beyond the margins of the hollow
containing the eggs. The eggs were in fragments, much like the eggs of
Steller’s Jay in color, but of a lighter shade of bluish-green. He
thinks that their habit is to build in the very tallest pines.
Dr. Kennerly also met with this Crow west of Albuquerque, in New
Mexico, in the thick pine woods skirting the eastern slope of the
Rocky Mountains, where it was quite abundant. He rarely saw more than
two or three together. None were met with after leaving the mountains.
A single specimen of this crow was obtained at Sitka, by Bischoff.
GENUS GYMNOKITTA, PR. MAX.
_Gymnorhinus_, PR. MAX. Reise Nord. Amer. II, 1841, 21. (Type, _G.
cyanocephala_.)
_Gymnokitta_, PR. MAX. “1850,” GRAY.
_Cyanocephalus_, BONAP. “1842,” preoccupied in Botany.
[Line drawing: _Gymnokitta cyanocephala._
16247]
GEN. CHAR. Bill elongated, depressed, shorter than the tarsus, longer
than the head, without notch, similar to that of _Sturnella_ in shape.
Culmen nearly straight; commissure curved; gonys ascending. Nostrils
small, oval, entirely exposed, the bristly feathers at the base of the
bill being very minute. Tail short, nearly even, much shorter than the
pointed wings, which cover three fourths of the tail. Tarsi
considerably longer than the middle toe. Color of the single species
blue, most intense anteriorly; the throat streaked with white.
The bill in this genus is not unlike that of _Sturnus_ and
_Sturnella_, and conspicuous among _Corvinæ_ by its uncovered nostrils.
Gymnokitta cyanocephala, PR. MAX.
MAXIMILIAN’S JAY.
_Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus_, PR. MAXIMILIAN, Reise in das innere
Nord-Amerika, II, 1841, 21.—IB. Voyage dans l’Am. du Nord,
III, 1843, 296. _Gymnokitta cyanocephala_, “PR. MAX. 1850,” BP.
Conspectus, 1850, 382.—CASSIN, Illust. I, VI, 1854, 165, pl.
xxviii.—NEWBERRY, Rep. P. R. R. VI, IV, 1857, 83.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 574.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 193.—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 292. _Psilorhinus cyanocephalus_, GRAY,
Genera. _Cyanocorax cassini_, M’CALL, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, June,
1851, 216.
[Illustration: _Gymnokitta cyanocephala._]
SP. CHAR. Wings considerably longer than the tail, and reaching to
within an inch of its tip. Tail nearly even. General color dull blue,
paler on the abdomen, the middle of which is tinged with ash; the head
and neck of a much deeper and more intense blue, darker on the crown.
Chin and forepart of the throat whitish, streaked with blue. Length,
10.00; wing, 5.90; tail, 4.50; tarsus, 1.50. Young bird not differing
in markings.
HAB. Rocky Mountains of Colorado, to Cascade Mts. of California and
Oregon. Not on the Pacific coast? South to New Mexico and Arizona.
The female is appreciably different from the male, both in size and
plumage, being smaller, and of a light bluish-ash tint. This
difference is readily appreciable when the birds are seen flying.
HABITS. Maximilian’s Jay was discovered and first described by that
eminent naturalist, Maximilian, Prince of Wied, in his book of travels
in North America, published in 1841. Mr. Edward Kern, who was
connected with Colonel Fremont’s exploring expedition in 1846, was the
first to bring specimens of this interesting and remarkable bird to
the notice of American naturalists, transmitting them to the
Philadelphia Academy. The specimens procured by its discoverer were
met with by him on Maria’s River, one of the tributaries of the Upper
Missouri, in the extreme northern portion of our northwestern
territory, a point much farther north than it has been met with by any
other naturalist. As this species has since been seen in large numbers
in New Mexico, it may be presumed to extend its movements over quite
an extended area of distribution in the region of the Rocky Mountains.
According to the more recent observations of Mr. Ridgway, the
Maximilian Jay inhabits exclusively the nut-pine and cedar woods on
the interior mountain ranges, and is one of the most characteristic
birds of those regions. This species he states to be eminently
gregarious, even breeding in colonies, and in winter congregating in
flocks, sometimes of thousands. Ever restless and in motion, as it
moves it is constantly uttering its curious, querulous notes. It is a
very conspicuous bird, and is one well worthy of particular attention.
Its blue color is the only thing suggestive of its affinity to the
Jay. All its habits are different, and its appearance is quite
peculiar. It is as essentially migratory as the _Ectopistes
migratoria_, its coming and its going being quite as sudden and
uncertain. On one occasion, in visiting a nut-pine wood, Mr. Ridgway
found it full of roving, noisy troops of these birds, but upon
visiting the same locality the next day not one could be seen.
He also states that these birds are exceedingly early in their
nesting, as he met with companies of fully fledged young flying about
on the 21st of April. Near Carson City, April 20, 1868, he found these
birds abundant among the scattered cedars and nut-pines on the lower
slopes of the hills. They were in pairs, often three or four pairs in
company.
The notes of this bird are both peculiar and curious. The usual ones
are said to have some resemblance to the querulous wailings of the
Screech Owl; but none, in his opinion, have any resemblance to the cry
of the Catbird.
It flies very swiftly, but with a gentle floating motion, very much in
the manner of the Robin. In its movements among the small cedars, it
generally alighted upon the summit of a tree, and, quietly sitting
there, would look about in the manner of the _Picicorvus columbianus_.
In flying, it continually uttered a very peculiar querulous note,
resembling very much one of the notes of the Magpie,—the peculiarly
soft note of that bird uttered during the love-season, or when its
nest is approached. In searching among the cedars, Mr. Ridgway found
several of its nests. Nearly all had been deserted, and there were
several families of fully fledged young flying about. One nest
contained four fully feathered young. When these had been taken, and
placed in a hat, they all jumped out, squalling vociferously. These
nests were all saddled upon horizontal branches of cedars, and, except
in their greater bulk, they closely resembled the nest of the eastern
Blue Jay.
In autumn and in winter the large flocks of these birds, as they fly
back and forth over the hills, present a very peculiar appearance.
Their flight is then very swift.
Dr. Kennerly, in November, 1853, frequently saw large flocks of these
birds between the Puebla of Laguna and the Sierra Madre, about a
hundred miles west of Albuquerque, in New Mexico. They were found
chiefly frequenting the watercourses, and when startled would circle
around, rising higher above their heads, uttering their singular
cries; then suddenly descending they would alight in the top of some
tree on the adjoining cliffs. He compares its voice to that of the
common Catbird.
Dr. T. C. Henry also repeatedly noticed these birds in the vicinity of
Fort Webster, in New Mexico. He first met with them near San Miguel,
in July, 1852, where he observed a party of about thirty flitting
through the cedars along the roadside. They were chiefly young birds,
and were constantly alighting on the ground for the purpose of
capturing lizards, which they killed with great readiness, and
devoured. After that he repeatedly, in winter, saw these birds near
Fort Webster, and usually in flocks of about forty or fifty. They
evinced great wariness, and were very difficult of approach.
The flocks would usually alight near the summit of a hill and pass
rapidly down its sides, all the birds keeping quite near to each
other, and frequently alighting on the ground. They appeared to be
very social, and kept up a continual twittering note. This bird, so
far as Dr. Henry observed it, is exclusively a mountain species, and
never seen on the plains or bottom-lands, and was never observed
singly, or even in a single pair, but always in companies.
Dr. Newberry met with this species in the basin of the Des Chutes, in
Oregon. He first noticed it in September. Early every morning flocks
of from twenty-five to thirty of these birds came across, in their
usual straggling flight, chattering as they flew to the trees on a
hill near the camp, and then, from tree to tree, they made their way
to the stream to drink. He describes their note, when flying or
feeding, as a frequently repeated _ca-ca-că_. Sometimes, when made by
a straggler separated from mate or flock, it was rather loud and
harsh, but was usually soft and agreeable. When disturbed, their cry
was harsher. They were very shy, and could only be shot by lying in
wait for them. Subsequently he had an opportunity of seeing them feed,
and of watching them carefully as they were eating the berries of the
cedars, and in their habits and cries they seemed closely to resemble
Jays. A specimen, previously killed, was found with its crop filled
with the seeds of the yellow pine.
Dr. Cooper has seen specimens of this bird from Washoe, just east of
the California State line, and he was informed by Mr. Clarence King
that they frequent the junipers on mountains near Mariposa.
From Dr. Coues we learn that this bird is very abundant at Fort
Whipple, where it remains all the year. It breeds in the retired
portions of the neighboring mountains of San Francisco and Bill
Williams, the young leaving the nest in July. As the same birds are
ready to fly in April, at Carson City, it may be that they have two
broods in Arizona. During the winter they collect in immense flocks,
and in one instance Dr. Coues estimates their number at a thousand or
more. In a more recent contribution to the Ibis (April, 1872), Dr.
Coues gives a more full account of his observations in respect to this
bird. In regard to geographical range he considers its distribution
very nearly the same with that of the _Picicorvus_. Mr. Aiken has
recently met with these birds in Colorado Territory, where, however,
Mr. Allen did not obtain specimens. General McCall found these birds
abundant near Santa Fé, in New Mexico, at an altitude Of seven
thousand feet; and the late Captain Feilner obtained specimens at Fort
Crook, in Northeastern California. Dr. Coues considers its range to be
the coniferous zone of vegetation within the geographical area bounded
eastward by the foot-hills and slopes of the Rocky Mountains; westward
by the Cascade and Coast ranges; northward, perhaps to Sitka, but
undetermined; and somewhat so southward, not traced so far as the
_tierra fria_ of Mexico.
Dr. Coues adds that, like most birds which subsist indifferently on
varied animal or vegetable food, this species is not, strictly
speaking, migratory, as it can find food in winter anywhere except at
its loftiest points of distribution. A descent of a few thousand feet
from the mountains thus answers all the purposes of a southward
journey performed by other species, so far as food is concerned, while
its hardy nature enables it to endure the rigors of winter. According
to his observations, this bird feeds principally upon juniper berries
and pine seeds, and also upon acorns and other small hard fruits.
Dr. Coues describes this bird as garrulous and vociferous, with
curiously modulated chattering notes when at ease, and with extremely
loud harsh cries when excited by fear or anger. It is also said to be
restless and impetuous, as if of an unbalanced mind. Its attitudes on
the ground, to which it frequently descends, are essentially
Crow-like, and its gait is an easy walk or run, very different from
the leaping manner of progress made by the Jays. When perching, its
usual attitude is stiff and firm. Its flight resembles that of the
_Picicorvus_. After breeding, these birds unite in immense flocks, but
disperse again in pairs when the breeding-season commences.
Nothing, so far, has been published in regard to the character of the
eggs.
SUBFAMILY GARRULINÆ.
CHAR. Wings short, rounded; not longer or much shorter than the tail,
which is graduated, sometimes excessively so. Wings reaching not much
beyond the lower tail-coverts. Bristly feathers at base of bill
variable. Bill nearly as long as the head, or shorter. Tarsi longer
than the bill or than the middle toe. Outer lateral claws rather
shorter than the inner.
The preceding diagnosis may perhaps characterize the garruline birds,
as compared with the Crows. The subdivisions of the group are as
follows:—
A. Nostrils moderate, completely covered by incumbent
feathers.
_a._ Tail much longer than the wings; first primary
attenuated, falcate.
Pica. Head without crest.
_b._ Tail about as long as the wings; first primary not
falcate.
Cyanura. Head with lengthened narrow crest. Wing and
tail blue, banded with black.
Cyanocitta. Head without crest. Above blue, with a
gray patch on the back. No bands on wing and tail.
Xanthoura. Head without crest. Color above greenish;
the head blue; lateral tail-feathers yellow.
Perisoreus. Head full and bushy. Bill scarcely half the
head, with white feathers over the nostrils. Plumage
dull.
B. Nostrils very large, naked, uncovered by feathers.
Psilorhinus. Head not crested; tail broad; wings two
thirds as long as the tail.
Calocitta. Head with a recurved crest; wings less than
half as long as the tail.
There is a very close relationship between the Jays and the Titmice,
the chief difference being in size rather than in any other
distinguishing feature. The feathers at the base of the bill, however,
in the Jays, are bristly throughout, with lateral branches reaching to
the very tip. In _Paridæ_ these feathers are inclined to be broader,
with the shaft projecting considerably beyond the basal portion, or
the lateral branches are confined to the basal portion, and extended
forwards. There is no naked line of separation between the scutellæ on
the outer side of the tarsi. The basal joint of the middle toe is
united almost or quite to the end to the lateral, instead of half-way.
The first primary is usually less than half the second, instead of
rather more; the fourth and fifth primaries nearly equal and longest,
instead of the fifth being longer than the fourth.
GENUS PICA, CUVIER.
_Coracias_, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. 1735 (GRAY).
_Pica_, BRISSON, Ornithologia, 1760, and of Cuvier (AGASSIZ). (Type,
_Corvus pica_, L.)
_Cleptes_, GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. 2d Ser. I, 1847, 47.
GEN. CHAR. Tail very long, forming much more than half the total
length; the feathers much graduated; the lateral scarcely more than
half the middle. First primary falcate, curved, and attenuated. Bill
about as high as broad at the base; the culmen and gonys much curved,
and about equal; the bristly feathers reaching nearly to the middle of
the bill. Nostrils nearly circular. Tarsi very long; middle toe
scarcely more than two thirds the length. A patch of naked skin
beneath and behind the eye.
The peculiar characteristic of this genus, in addition to the very
long graduated tail, lies in the attenuated, falcate first primary.
_Calocitta_, which has an equally long or longer tail, has the first
primary as in the Jays generally (besides having the nostrils exposed).
[Line drawing: _Pica hudsonica._
4547]
A specimen of _P. nuttalli_ has the lateral tarsal plates with two or three
transverse divisions on the lower third. This has not been observed by us
to occur in _P. hudsonica_.
Species and Varieties.
P. caudata. Head, neck, breast, interscapulars, lining of
wing, tail-coverts and tibiæ, deep black: wings metallic
greenish-blue; tail rich metallic green, the feathers
passing through bronze and reddish-violet into
violet-blue, at their tips. Scapulars, abdomen, sides,
flanks, and inner webs of primaries, pure white. Sexes
alike; young similar.
_a._ Bill and bare space around the eye black.
Wing, 7.50; tail, 9.50 or less, its graduation less
than half its length, 4.50; culmen, 1.20; tarsus,
1.75; middle toe, 1.05. _Hab._ Europe var. _caudata_.[55]
Wing, over 8.00 (8.50 maximum); tail over 10.00
(13.50, max., its graduation more than half its
length, 7.70); culmen, 1.55; tarsus, 1.75; middle toe,
1.05. _Hab._ Northern and Middle North America,
exclusive of the Atlantic Province of United States
and California var. _hudsonica_.
_b._ Bill and bare space around the eye yellow.
Wing, 7.50; tail, 10.50; its graduation, 5.00; culmen,
1.50; tarsus, 1.75; middle toe, 1.05. _Hab._
California var. _nuttalli_.
[55] _Pica caudata_, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 87. _Corvus pica_,
LINN. Faun. Suec. p. 31. _Pica melanoleuca_, VIEILL. N. D.
XXVI, 121. _Pica albiventris_, VIEILL. Faun. Franc. p. 119,
t. 55, f. 1. _Pica european_ (CUV.) BOIE, Isis, 1822, 551.
_Pica rusticorum_, LEACH, Syst. Cat. Mamm. and Birds in
Brit. Mus. p. 18.
Pica caudata, var. hudsonica, BONAP.
MAGPIE.
_Corvus pica_, FORSTER, Phil. Trans. LXXII, 1772, 382.—WILSON, Am.
Orn. IV, 1811, 75, pl. xxxv.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1825, No.
40.—IB. Syn. 1828, 57.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 219.—AUD. Orn.
Biog. IV, 1838, 408, pl. ccclvii (not of LINNÆUS). _Corvus
hudsonica_, JOS. SABINE, App. Narr. Franklin’s Journey, 1823,
25, 671. _Picus hudsonica_, BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus,
1850, 383.—MAXIM. Reise Nord Amer. I, 1839, 508.—IB. Cabanis,
Journ. 1856, 197.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R.
R. VI, IV, 1857, 84.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 576, pl.
xxv.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 121 (British Columbia).—COOPER
& SUCKLEY, 213, pl. xxv.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chic. Ac. I,
1869, 286 (Alaska).—FINSCH, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 39
(Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 296. _Cleptes
hudsonicus_, GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. 2d Ser. I, Dec. 1847, 47.
_Pica melanoleuca_, “VIEILL.” AUD. Syn. 1839, 157.—IB. Birds
Am. IV, 1842, 99, pl. ccxxvii.
[Illustration: _Pica nuttalli._]