548 THE FISH CROW. 



the large end being often covered, or occasionally the 

 ground-color of the whole ^^^ obscured, by the markings. 

 They are laid, in the Middle States, about the first of May^ 

 and the young, covered at first with a white down, are 

 hatched early in June. They keep to the nest till full- 

 grown, and are even fed by the parents in the air after 

 flight would seem complete. 



THE FISH CROW. 



The nest being a common resort of the Fish Hawk 

 throughout the season, my attention was one day especially 

 called to an empty one on which a Hawk was unusually 

 boisterous over a large fish. These birds are generally 

 noisy when on land, but this time there was a particular 

 significance to the loud squealing racket. A Fish Crow 

 (Corvus ossifragus)^ readily known by his hoarse, guttural 

 cawing, was perched near by in the tree. Being also, 

 as his common name implies, of piscatorial appetite, he had 

 come to dispute the right of the Hawk to the fish. How 

 saucy on the part of this little specimen in glossy-black to 

 put in a claim to the bill of fare so well earned by his stately 

 neighbor ! How undignified in the Osprey to utter one 

 querulous syllable in recognition of the sauce-box ! 



Some 16.00 long and 24.00 in extent, the Fish Crow is 

 noticeably smaller than his larger brother, so well known 

 here in the north. Also his coat has a brighter gloss, and 

 his feet are proportionally smaller. A bird of our more 

 southern sea-board, and found there in great abundance, it 

 is more or less common about " the upper New Jersey 

 coast, Long Island, lower Hudson Valley, and the coast 

 line of Connecticut, and an occasional visitor to Massa- 

 chusetts." Reported on good authority as migratory, 

 pressing into our southern coasts in great numbers on the 



