from place to place, diving on his back while high in air, and harassing him for a great distance. A single pair of these noblespirited birds, whose nest was built near, have been known to protect a whole field of corn from the depredations of the Crows, not permitting one to approach it.

The Crow is eighteen inches and a half long, and three feet. two inches in extent; the general colour is a shining glossy blue black, with purplish reflections; the throat and lower parts are less glossy; the bill and legs a shining black, the former two inches and a quarter long, very strong, and covered at the base with thick tufts of recumbent feathers; the wings, when shut, reach within an inch and a quarter of the tip of the tail, which is rounded; fourth primary the longest; secondaries scallopped at the ends, and minutely pointed, by the prolongation of the shaft; iris dark hazel.

The above description agrees so nearly with the European species as to satisfy me that they are the same; though the voice of ours is said to be less harsh, not unlike the barking of a small spaniel; the pointedness of the ends of the tail feathers, mentioned by European naturalists, and occasioned by the extension of the shafts, is rarely observed in the present species, though always very observable in the secondaries.

The female differs from the male in being more dull coloured, and rather deficient in the glossy and purplish tints and reflections. The difference, however, is not great.

Besides grain, insects and carrion, they feed on frogs, tadpoles, small fish, lizards and shell-fish; with the latter they frequently mount to a great height, dropping them on the rocks below, and descending after them to pick up the contents. The same habit is observable in the Gull, the Raven, and Sea-side Crow. Many other aquatic insects, as well as marine plants, furnish them with food; which accounts for their being so generally found, and so numerous, on the sea-shore, and along the banks of our large rivers.

SPECIES 3. CORVUS COLUMBIANUS.

CLARK'S CROW.

[Plate XX.-Fig. 2.]

PEALE'S Museum, No. 1371.

THIS species resembles, a little, the Jackdaw of Europe (Corvus monedula;) but is remarkable for its formidable claws, which approach to those of the Falco genus; and would seem to intimate, that its food consists of living animals, for whose destruction these weapons must be necessary. In conversation with different individuals of Lewis and Clark's party, I understood that this bird inhabits the shores of the Columbia, and the adjacent country,, in great numbers, frequenting the rivers and seashore, probably feeding on fish; and that it has all the gregarious and noisy habits of the European species, several of the party supposing it to be the same.

The figure in the plate was drawn with particular care, after a minute examination and measurement of the only preserved skin that was saved; and which is now deposited in Peale's Museum.

This bird measures thirteen inches in length; the wings, the two middle tail feathers, and the interior vanes of the next (except at the tip) are black, glossed with steel blue; all the secondaries, except the three next the body, are white for an inch at their extremities, forming a large spot of white on that part, when the wing is shut; the tail is rounded; yet the two middle feathers are somewhat shorter than those adjoining; all the rest are pure white, except as already described; the general colour of the head, neck, and body, above and below, is a light silky drab, darkening almost to a dove colour on the breast and belly;

vent white; claws black, large, and hooked, particularly the middle and hind-claw; legs also black; bill a dark horn colour; iris of the eye unknown.

In the state of Georgia, and several parts of the Mississippi Territory, I discovered a Crow,* not hitherto taken notice of by naturalists, rather larger than the present species; but much resembling it in the form and length of its wings, in its tail, and particularly its claws. This bird is a constant attendant along the borders of streams and stagnating ponds, feeding on small fish and lizards, which I have many times seen him seize as he swept along the surface. A well preserved specimen of this bird was presented to Mr. Peale, and is now in his Museum. It is highly probable that, with these external resemblances, the habits of both may be nearly alike.

*The Crow above alluded to is the Fish-Crow. See the next article.

SPECIES 4. CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS.

FISH-CROW.

[Plate XXXVII.-Fig. 2.]

PEALE'S Museum, No. 1369.

THIS is another roving inhabitant of our coasts, ponds, and river shores; though a much less distinguished one than the preceding,* this being the first time, as far as I can learn, that he has ever been introduced to the notice of the world.

I first met with this species on the coast of Georgia, and observed that they regularly retired to the interior as evening approached, and came down to the shores of the river Savannah, by the first appearance of day. Their voice first attracted my notice, being very different from that of the common Crow, more hoarse and guttural, uttered as if something stuck in their throat, and varied into several modulations as they flew along. Their manner of flying was also unlike the others, as they frequently sailed about, without flapping the wings, something in the manner of the Raven; and I soon perceived that their food, and their mode of procuring it, were also both different; their favourite haunts being about the banks of the river, along which they usually sailed, dexterously snatching up, with their claws, dead fish, or other garbage, that floated on the surface. At the country seat of Stephen Elliot, Esq. near the Ogechee river, I took notice of these Crows frequently perching on the backs of the cattle, like the Magpie and Jackdaw of Britain; but never mingling with the common Crows; and differing from them in this particular, that the latter generally retire to the shore, the

*The Fish-Hawk, figured in the same plate, and which immediately precedes the Fish-Crow, in the text of the original edition.

reeds and marshes, to roost; while the Fish-Crow, always a little before sunset, seeks the interior high woods to repose in.

In my journey through the Mississippi Territory, last year, I resided for some time at the seat of my hospitable friend, Dr. Samuel Brown, a few miles from Fort Adams, on the Mississippi. In my various excursions there among the lofty fragrancebreathing magnolia woods, and magnificent scenery, that adorn the luxuriant face of nature in those southern regions, this species of Crow frequently made its appearance, distinguished by the same voice and habits it had in Georgia. There is in many of the ponds there, a singular kind of lizard, that swims about with its head above the surface, making a loud sound, not unlike the harsh jarring of a door. These the Crow now before us would frequently seize with his claws, as he flew along the surface, and retire to the summit of a dead tree to enjoy his repast. Here I also observed him a pretty constant attendant at the pens, where the cows were usually milked, and much less shy, less suspicious and more solitary, than the common Crow. In the county of Cape May, New Jersey, I again met with these Crows, particularly along Egg-Harbour river; and latterly on the Schuylkill and Delaware, near Philadelphia, during the season of shad and herring fishing, viz. from the middle of March till the beginning of June. A small party of these Crows, during this period, regularly passed Bartram's gardens, to the high woods, to roost, every evening a little before sunset, and as regularly returned at or before sunrise every morning, directing their course towards the river. The fishermen along these rivers also inform me, that they have particularly remarked this Crow, by his croaking voice, and his fondness for fish; almost always hovering about their fishing places, to glean up the refuse. Of their manner of breeding I can only say, that they separate into pairs, and build in tall trees, near the sea or river shore; one of their nests having been built this season in a piece of tall woods, near Mr. Beasley's, at Great Egg-Harbour. The male of this nest furnished me with the figure in the plate, which was drawn of full size, and afterwards reduced to one-third the size of life, to