Species IV. CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS. • 



FISH-CROW. 



[Plate XXXVII. Fig. 2.] 



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 intro- 

 duced 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 difi'erent from 

 that of the common Crow, more hoarse and guttural, uttered as if some- 

 thing 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 difi'erent ; their favorite haunts 

 being about the banks of the river, along which they usually sailed, dex- 

 terously 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 Ogeechee 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 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 excur- 

 sions there among the lofty fragrance-breathing 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 



* The Fish-Hawk, figured in the Bame plate, and which immediately precedes the 

 Fish-Crow, in the text of the original edition. 



Vol. I.-9 (129) 



