AMERICAN CROW. 477 



fisheries, and that during winter they are very expert at discovering 

 the small tents raised by the Indians for the purpose of saving their 

 fish. They are in all those districts constant attendants upon the hun- 

 ters, for the purpose of devouring the offal of all such game as may be 

 slaughtered. 



Although I have found eggs of this species which measured rather 

 more than two inches in length, by an inch and three-eighths, others 

 did not measure more than one inch and seven-eighths by an inch and 

 four- twelfths. They also differ considerably in the tint of their ground- 

 colour, as well as in their markings. 



AMERICAN CROW. 



CoRvus American us. 



PLATE CLVI. Vol. II. p. 31?. 



Although the common American Crow ranges from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the shores of the Columbia River, where it is abundant, as 

 well as on the Rocky Mountains, it does not, accoi'ding to Dr Rich- 

 ardson, proceed farther north than the 55th parallel of latitude, nor 

 approach within five or six hundred miles of Hudson's Bay, appearing 

 in the Fur Countries during the summer only. I found it abundant in 

 the Texas, where it breeds. The eggs measure one inch five-eighths in 

 length, an inch and one-eighth in breadth, 



A specimen preserved in spirits measures in length to end of tail 

 ISj inches, to end of wings 17, to end of claws 16^ ; extent of wings 

 35 ; wing from flexure V2\ ; tail \ ; bill along the ridge 2 ; tarsus 2\. 



The palate is concave, with two ridges ; the upper mandible in- 

 ternally with five ridges, the lower deeply concave, with a median 

 prominent line. The tongue is 1 inch 2 twelfths long, semicircu- 

 larly emarginate at the base and papillate, one of the papillae on 

 each side very large ; it is horny toward the end, narrow, thin edged, 

 and with the point slit, the fissure being 1^ twelfth in depth. The 

 width of the mouth is 1 inch 1 twelfth ; the oesophagus, abed, is,! inches 

 long, averages 7^ twelfths in width, is funnel-shaped at the com- 



