In fall and winter, Blue Jays are very fond of beechnuts and acorns. At the feeding-counter they often choose peanuts if these are to be found. Their hearty manner and brilliant colors make them an attractive addition to any flock of bird-neighbors, in spite of their objectionable traits.
NORTHERN RAVEN
Corvus corax principalis Ridgway
Description.—Much larger than a Crow; bill and feet very strong and heavy; feathers of throat long and pointed, not rounded. Entire plumage black, glossed with steel-blue and pale greenish and purplish. Length: About 24 inches. Wingspread about four feet.
Range in Pennsylvania.—A rare permanent resident, found only in the wildest mountain gorges, chiefly in the central counties.
Nest.—A very large and bulky affair, deeply cupped like a Crow’s, usually placed in an inaccessible niche on a cliff or high in a tree. It is made of twigs and branches and is lined with moss, hair, grape-vine bark, and rootlets. Eggs: 3 to 6, usually pale bluish or bluish green, spotted with brown, olive, and gray.
Ravens might easily pass for Crows, were not their cracked, raucous voices to echo solemnly through the gorges which they inhabit. Looking up we may see the great black birds circling through the sky like hawks; we may be near enough to note that the tail is not rounded as in the Crow, but wedge-shaped, the middle feathers being noticeably the longest. When a Raven does not soar, nor croak, he appears much like a Crow, and identification ought to be either from notes, or flight, or from direct comparison with Crows. These smaller cousins, incidentally, mob the Raven with as much gusto as they exhibit in attacking an owl.
Northern Raven
CROW
Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos Brehm
Description.—Black, glossed with bluish and purplish, underparts duller in appearance. The Crow is probably our best-known bird. Length: 19 inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—In southeastern counties the Crow occurs the year round, and during winter in great flocks; elsewhere it is chiefly absent in winter, returning in late February or early March, and remaining until December. It is widely distributed and abundant as a summer resident.
Nest.—A bulky structure made of twigs, moss, and leaves, lined with hair, grape-vine bark, and moss, placed from 20 to 60 feet from the ground, in trees. Eggs: 3 to 6, generally light bluish green, heavily spotted with brown and gray.
Call-notes, flight, appearance, and bad habits of the Crow are all well known and need no discussion. It should be said, however, that its destruction of ground-inhabiting insects, tomato and tobacco worms, and small mammals, is to its credit. The Crow is not protected in Pennsylvania.