BIRDS — CORVIDAE — CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS. 



571 



CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS, Wilson. 

 Fish Crow. 



Corvm ossifragus, Wilson, Am. Orn. V,1812, 27 ; pi. xxxvii.f. 2.— Bow. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 39.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 

 57. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850,385. — ■WAGLER,Syst. Avium, 1827, Coruns, No. 19. — NnTTALL,Miin. 

 I, 18.'!2, 216.— AuD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834,268: V, 479 ; pi. 146.— Ib. Syn. 1839, 151.— Ib. Birds 

 Amer. IV, 1842, 94 ; pi. 226. 



Sp. Ch. — Fourtli quill longest ; second rather longer than seventh ; first shorter than the ninth. Glossy black, with green 

 and violet reflections ; the gloss of tlie belly greenish. Length, about 15.50 inclies ; wing, 10.50 ; tail, less than 7 inches ; 

 tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw. 



Hab. — South Atlantic (and Gulf.') coast. 



In this species the bill is shaped much as in the common crow, the upper outline perhaps a 

 little more convex. The bristly feathers at the base of the bill reach nearly halfway to the tip. 

 I find no bare space at the base of the lower mandible, although the feathers are not quite so 

 thick there as in the common crow. The tarsus has eight transverse scutellae, and is decidedly 

 shorter than the middle toe with its claw. The lateral claws do not reach within one tenth of 

 an inch of the base of the middle claw. 



The wings are long and acute ; the fourth is longest ; next the third, fifth, second, and sixth; 

 the first is about as long as the secondaries. The distances from the tip of the longest quill to 

 each primary are as follows : 



The four outer primaries are cut out on the inner web as in G. americanus. 



The tail of the fish crow is nearly even, or only slightly rounded, the outer feathers about 

 .40 of an inch less than the middle ones. The innermost tail feather has the webs on both sides 

 nearly equal. 



This species is everywhere lustrous black, with a partly violet and partly green gloss on the 

 back ; a decidedly green gloss on the belly. 



The fish crow of the Atlantic States is readily distinguishable from the common crow by the 

 much smaller size, (16 inches instead of 20 ; wing about 11 inches instead of 13 ;) the bill is 

 broader at the base and tapers more rapidly to the end ; the middle toe and claw are longer than 

 the scutellate portion of the tarsus, not shorter, the inner claw not reaching to the base of the 

 middle one. The tail is less rounded. The gloss on the belly is green instead of violet ; that 

 on the back is mixed w ith green, not entirely violet. 



Audubon and Wilson describe the fish crow as having a space bare of feathers at the base of 

 the bill. This I have not found in any of the specimens before me, (all adult,) and am inclined 

 to consider it a feature of the young, as shown in Mr. Audubon's plate. In these adults the 

 face is quite as fully feathered as ever in our common crow, which itself sometimes has the 

 feathers in front of the eye, thickened and sparse. 



