EASTERN CROW 235 



Plumages. — The young in the completed juvenal plumage are dark 

 grayish black above, with the underparts somewhat duller in tone; the 

 wings and tail are black with violet and greenish reflections; iris bluish 

 and the bill and feet grayish black. 



The first winter plumage is acquired by a partial postjuvenal molt, 

 which involves the body plumage and wing coverts but not the rest of 

 the wings or the tail. The young in this plumage are similar to the 

 adults, but the feathers show less gloss and the majority of the specimens 

 have a greenish hue. The underparts are of a duller black, the belly with 

 a dull slaty cast. The first nuptial plumage is acquired by wear, the 

 feathers becoming brownish and worn by the end of the breeding season. 

 The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial molt. 

 The sexes are alike in plumages and molts. All parts, including bill, 

 legs, feet, and claws, are deep black. The plumage of the body has a 

 distinct metallic gloss of violet, and the wings are glossed with bluish 

 violet and greenish blue; iris brown. 



Albinism is c.ommon in the crow, judged from the more than 25 re- 

 ported cases that have come to my attention. Since an albino crow 

 offers such a striking contrast to the normal plumage, and because crows 

 are more readily observed than the more secretive species, there are 

 many reports of albinism. A few of the more interesting cases are cited 

 below. 



In the Bowdoin College collection there is a female crow collected at 

 Yarmouth, Maine, that is pure white, including the bill, feet, and claws. 

 The iris of this specimen was pink and so the bird was a pure albinistic 

 type. Two albino crows taken from a nest near Portland, Maine, in 1910 

 were mounted by J. A. Lord, a taxidermist in Portland. An albino crow 

 was seen at South China, Maine, for a period of several weeks during 

 August 1930. F. A. Stuhr, of Portland, Oreg., reported having four live 

 crows that were taken from a nest in Lane County, Oreg. Three of 

 them are almost entirely white, showing only slight black colorations 

 on the primaries and secondaries and at the base of the bill. The iris 

 of these birds is brown, but the feet and tarsus are nearly white. 

 Fleming and Lloyd (1920) report that two albino crows were taken 

 from a nest 9 miles north of Toronto on June 29, 1908. Both birds 

 were grayish white, the eyes blue-gray, the feet lead black, and the 

 beak horn color. Harry Piers (1898) reported a partial albino col- 

 lected near Halifax, Nova Scotia. His description is as follows: "Its 

 general color was brown, darker on the throat, cheeks and belly: 

 scapulars and feathers of back margined obscurely with whitish ; pri- 

 maries mostly whitish ; tertials white ; tail feathers light reddish brown 

 margined with whitish on outer edge ; legs, bill and iris brown." Several 



