88 THE CONDOR [ VOL. V Paso, Texas, where they comm0xdy remain throughout the winter, I found them up to the last of December one of the most abundant and conspicuous of winter birds, associating in noisy crow-like flocks around the outskirts of town, neighbor- ing stock yards and ranches. In such places they show a bold intelligence not found in the wary crow, and are always ready to co-operate with man in any such mutual benefit scheme as the disposal of garbage, the removal of superfluous flesh and grease from hides hung out to dry, or the saving of grain that has been scat- tered along the roads. On a cold morning I have seen a dozen of them in the pig pen, sharing the breakfast of the pigs, pushing and crowding for the scattered corn in a very frank and business-like way. Along the suburban streets of E1 Paso they would walk aside to let me pass with my gun, eying me shrewdly as much as to say, "It's against the law to shoot inside the city limits," but out on the mesa they would keep well beyond shot gun range and sound an alarm at the first sight of a distant hunter. CORVUI CRYPTOLUCUI ON YUCCA RADIOSA AT VALENTIN, TXAS In spring they scatter out over the desert valleys and become silent and shy while preoccupied with home duties, and then any old bunch of sticks in the top of a tall yucca may contain a set of their brown spotted eggs. From below, the nests usually have an ancient tumble- down appearance caused by straggling remains of previous nests, but from above they are found to be well built up each year when occupied. In the accompanying cut from a pho- tograph taken near Marathon, Texas, May 1:2, 1901 , the nest shown was about twelve feet from the ground. By get- ting on top of the 'hack' I could look into its deep cup-shaped cavity where the five eggs rested suugly on a soft lin- ing of yucca fiber, deer hair and rabbit fur, and was surprised to find the in- side so well built in contrast to its rough exterior. The old bird had slipped from the nest as we approached and quietly disappeared but was soon seen again with her mate watching us from distant yucca tops. Before we were twenty rods from the nest she was back in it again carefully inspecting damages. Later in the season when the young were out they were all as noisy as crows, whether lined up on a corral tence, gathered in a family circle around the remains of a slaughtered beef, or chasing grasshoppers and lizards in the open valley. The abundant and juicy fruit of the cactus, Opuntia, Cereus, and Mammalaria, supplies part and probably a large part of their food during July, August, and September. enabling the ravens as well as some of the mammals and even men to make long journeys into waterless valleys with comparative corntort. Out in one of the driest, hottest valleys of the Great Bend country of western Texas a pair of big Mexican ravens came beating over the valley ahead of our outfit one day, when they were suddenly attacked by two pair of the smaller,
