232 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



FISH CROW 



Corvus ossifragus Wilson 



A. O. U. Number 490 See Color ['late 72 



General Description.— Length, 13M inches. Plum- 

 age, black. Wings, long and pointed ; tail, much 

 shorter than wing; bill compressed, and higher than 

 broad ; feet, stout. 



Color.— Entire plumage, glossy black ; the upper 

 parts, glossed with bluish-violet (more purplish-violet 

 on lesser wing-coverts and secondaries), the under 

 parts, glossed with bluish-green or greenish-blue; iris, 

 brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In maritime cedars, about 

 20 feet up; a platform of sticks with sides of bark, 

 twigs, and grasses, lined with grapevine or other bark, 



grass, and a few leaves. Eggs: 4 to 6, smaller than, but 

 otherwise exactly similar to, those of the Common 

 Crow. 



Distribution. — Atlantic and Gulf coast districts of 

 United States, including peninsula of Florida; north 

 to lower Hudson valley and shores of Long Island 

 Sound (breeding in eastern Connecticut near Rhode 

 Island border), casually to Massachusetts; west along 

 the Gulf coast to Louisiana; not restricted to the im- 

 mediate coast, but extending back to base of Blue 

 Ridge Mountains (at least in summer), and abundant 

 about lakes and streams in interior of Florida. 



The Fish Crow is far more common along the 

 coast and about rivers and lakes than in the 

 fields and wooded uplands. It feeds largely on 

 such forms of animal life a;; die and float ashore. 

 It is also a great egg-eater. In the south the 

 Heron and Ibis rookeries are constantly robbed 

 by them. As an example of their destructive- 

 ness to birds' eggs, there may be mentioned the 

 colony of twenty pairs of Little Blue Herons on 

 Big Lake, North Carolina, from which every egg 

 was taken by Fish Crows while a company ot 

 naturalists were photographing in the neighbor- 

 hood. The Herons left their nests upon the 

 approach of the men but the Fish Crows came 

 boldly upon the scene and inside of an hour had 

 completely plundered every nest. 



This bird may be distinguished from the Com- 

 mon Crow by its smaller size and by the richer 

 color of its black plumage. Those who know 

 Crows well can easily tell them apart by their 

 notes. The common variety has a loud clear 

 cazu, while the Fish Crow possesses a voice with 

 a cracked and high-pitched nasal quality. They 

 are found in eastern United States chiefly along 

 the Atlantic seaboard, or in the Hudson River 

 valley, and in the neighborhood of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The nest is very compactly built, and 

 in Florida often contains much " Spanish moss." 

 It is placed in tall trees, and in the south pine 

 trees are almost exclusively selected for the 

 purpose. T. Gilbert Pearson. 



The Fish Crow, flying above a school of fish, 

 will suddenly dash down from a considerable 

 height and unerringly seize its prey. Small fish 

 are immediately swallowed, btit larger ones are 

 carried to a tree or some other convenient place 

 and torn to pieces. This bird treads for clams 



-A 



Photo by H. K. Job Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co. 



FISH CROW 

 Over Florida rookery, bent on nest-robbing 



just as human beings do, and then dislodges 

 them with its beak, breaks the shell by the same 

 means, and tears out the clams with the aid of 

 its claws. The stomach contents of a number of 

 specimens which were examined showed traces 

 of insects (mostly grasshoppers), carrion, grain, 

 and berries. 



