MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 297 



The present species is hence not only remarkable for variation in size 

 between specimens of the same sex, but espeeiallj' so for its sexual varia- 

 tion in size, the sexual difference in this respect being greater than in 

 any other species of insessorial bird with which I am acquainted, and it is 

 rarely, if ever, exceeded in any group. 



CORVID^E. 



61.* Corvus americanus Audubon. Common Crow. 



Corvus corone Wilson, Am. Orn., IV, 79, pi. xxv, fig. 3, 1811. — Nuttall, 



Man. Orn., I, 209, 1832. 

 Corvus americanus Audubon, Orn. Biog., II, 317, 1834. — Baikd, Birds N. 



Am., 566, 1858. 

 Corvus americanus var. floridanus Baird, Ibid., 568, 1858. 

 Corvus minimus Gundlach, Cabanis's Journal fur Ornithologie, IV, 97, 1856. 



Everywhere abundant. 



In the average, while the general size of Florida specimens is smaller 

 than New England ones, the bill is somewhat larger. As is well known, 

 the crow is exceedingly variable in the size and shape of its bill even 

 in specimens collected from the same flock. There is, however, an ap- 

 preciable average difference in the size of the bill, as in general size, 

 between northern and southern examples. This was some time since 

 observed by Professor Baird in comparing a single specimen from the 

 southern point of the Florida peninsula with others from the Northern 

 States, and so strongly was he impressed by it that he thought if his 

 Florida specimen did not represent a distinct species, it did at least a dis- 

 tinct variety, and as such he characterized it, calling it Corvus ameri- 

 canus var. Jloridanus. He at the same time referred to the little crow of 

 Cuba, described by Dr. Gundlach as Corvus minutus, to which he said.it 

 was more nearly allied than either are to C. americanus. I have no 

 examples of the latter, but from descriptions of it see no reason why it 

 should be regarded as other than the extreme southern form of C. ameri- 

 canus. 



62* Corvus OSSifragUS Wilson. Fish Crow. 

 Abundant. Perhaps rather more numerous than the common crow. 



63* Cyanurus cristatus Stoainson. Blue Jay. 

 Very abundant and unsuspicious. It frequents the towns, where it 

 seems half domestic. 



The same difference occurs in this species between Florida and northern 

 specimens in size and shape of bill as has been already pointed out in 



