COB VID2E ^COB VINJE : CB WS. 



417 



340. c. frugi'vorus. (Lat. frugivorus, fruit-eating : frux, fruit ; voro, I devour.) Common Ameri- 

 can Crow. The common crow is a foot and a lialf long, or rather more ; wing 12 to 14 inches ; 

 tail 7 to 8 ■ hill 1.75-2.00, ahout 0.75 high at haso ; tarsus ahout equal to middle toe and claw, 

 rather exceeding the blU. First primary not longer than 10th. Feathers of the throat oval, 

 soft, and blended ; no snowy-white under-plumage. The burnishing is chiefly on the wings, 

 tail, and back, the head being nearly dead-black. The ? is decidedly smaller than the ^, 

 and under-sized cabinet specimens are not seldom labelled " ossifragus." Eastern N. Amer., 

 chiefly U. S., not ordinarily found westward in the interior, wliere the raven abounds ; rare or 

 wanting in the Upper Missouri and Southern Rocky Mt. regions ; common, however, in some 

 parts of California. In settled parts of the country the crow tends to colonize, and some of its 

 "roosts" are of vast extent. Mine is on the Virginia side of the Potomac, near Washington. 

 Crows are always flying west over the city in the afternoon, and when as a boy I used to see 

 the gray of the morning, crows were flying the other way. It is doubtless the same now : but 

 I ofteuer licar midnight migrants than see such " early birds " these days. Nest in trees, any- 

 where in the woods, usually concealed with some art, though so bulky ; built of sticks and 

 trash; eggs 4—6-7, 1.60 X 1.20, like the raven's in color and markings, and equally variable. 

 (G. americcmus, Auct.) 



341. C. f. florida'nus. (Lat. of Florida.) Florida Crow. Represents the greater relative size of 

 the 1)111 and feet shown by many resident birds of Florida and coiTesponding latitudes. 



343. C. cauri'nus. (Lat. caurus, the N. W. wind, whence caurimis, northwestern.) North- 

 western Fish Crow. Small : about the size of the common fish crow, but feet more as in 

 C. americcmus, the tarsus not being shorter than the middle toe and claw, though rather less 

 than the bill; 1st primary longer than 10th. Length 14.00-10.00; wing 10.50; tail 0.50; 

 bill 1.75-2.00. N. Pacific coast, Oregon to Alaska; maritime; piscivorous; voice said to be 

 different from that of C frugivorus. 

 343. C. mari'tlmus. (Lat. marititims, maritime ; mare, the sea.) South-eastern Fish Crov7. 

 SmaU. Length 14.00-16.00 ; wing 10.00-11.00; tail 0.00-7.00; bill 1.50 ; tarsus 1.60 ; mid- 

 dle toe and claw 1.75. First primary not longer than 10th; a bare space about the gape? 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to New England. Common ; maritime, piscivorous. 

 Apparently a difterent bird from any of the foregoing, as it presents some tangil)le distinctions, 

 although constantly associated with C. frugivorus. Nest and eggs not to be distinguished 

 with certainty from those of the common crow, though averaging smaller. (C. ossifragus 

 Wils.) 

 107. PICICOR'VUS. (Com- 

 pounded oipicus, a wood- 

 pecker, or pica, a magpie, 

 and corvus, a crow. Fig. 

 269.) American Nut- 

 crackers. General 

 characters of the Euro- 

 pean Nucifraga. Bill 

 slenderer, more acute, 

 with more regularly 

 curved culmen and com- 

 missure, and straight in- Fro. 269. — Head ot Picicorvus, nat. size. (Ad uat. del. E. 0.) 

 stead of convex and ascending gonys ; as a whole somewhat decurved. Nostrils circular, con- 

 cealed by a fuU tuft of plumules. Wings long and pointed, folding to the end of the tail; 5th 

 quill longest ; 4th, 3d, 6th little less ; 2d much shorter, 1st not half as long as 5 th. Tail little 

 over half as long as wing, little rounded. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw ; the envelope 

 divided Into small plates on the sides behind toward the bottom. Claws very large, strong, 



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