12 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



olinas, Georgia, Florida, and thence to the mouth of the 

 Mississippi, according to Audubon. Farther west it has not 

 been taken. Dr. Wiirdemann found it at Calcasieu. La., 

 and Mr. Allen alleges it to be an occasional visitor along 

 the southern shores of Massachusetts, but Dr. Brewer be- 

 lieves this statement to be a mistake, from his inability to find 

 any corroboration thereof. Dr. DeKay, in his Report on 

 the birds of New York, gives it as an occasional visitor to 

 the shores of Long Island, but Mr. Lawrence confidently 

 asserts Squaw Beach, N. J.,tobe its most northern limit. Dr. 

 Boardman is given by Audubon and Nuttall as authority for 

 asserting its appearance on the banks of the Columbia River. 

 but this statement also lacks confirmation. Although desig- 

 nated by Dr. Cones as a maritime species, it is only to be 

 considered partially so, for we have observed it during the 

 past five or six years, nidificating along the water-courses in 

 the rural districts of our city. 



Wilson, who was the first to describe this species, affirms 

 its habits to be the reverse of those pf the common Crow, in 

 many particulars, as the former regularly repaired to the for- 

 ests to roost, and returned to the shores of the Savannah, to 

 feed at the dawn of day. Its manner of procuring nourish- 

 ment, and also the kind, were vastly different. From its 

 favorite haunts along the banks of rivers, up and down which 

 it soared, it would dexterously seize in its claws any dead 

 fish or garbage that was floating upon the surface. Like its 

 European cousin, the Jackdaw, it was frequently observed 

 to perch upon the back of cattle. He still further asserts 

 that it never mingles with the common species, and never 

 roosts among the reeds and marshes, but always seeks the 

 shelter of thickets in which to spend the night. In Eastern 

 Pennsylvania, we have frequently observed it associating 

 with the common Crow, in similar situations; and, as the 

 latter iskno.wn to prefer dense forests, chiefly pine, for roos- 

 ting purposes, there can be no difference in this respect. 



The Might of ossifr&gus is entirely different from that of 



