THE AMERICAN CROW. 



No. 2. 



AMERICAN CROW. 



A. O. U. No. 488. Corvus americanus Aud. 



Description. — Entire plumage glossy black, for the most part with green- 

 ish-blue, steel-blue and purplish reflections ; feathers of the neck normal, rounded. 

 Length 17.00-21.00 (431.8-533.4) ; wing 12.00-14.00 (304.8-355.6) ; tail 7.00- 

 8.00 (177.8-203.2); bill 1.80-2.05 (45.7-52.1), depth at base .72-.84 (18.3-21.3). 

 Female averages smaller than male. 



Nest, a neat hemisphere of sticks lined carefully with bark, roots and 

 trash, and placed 10-90 feet high in trees. Eggs, 4-7, usually 5, same coloring as 

 Raven's. Occasionally fine markings produce a uniform olive-green effect. Av. 

 size, 1.60 X 1.20 (40.6 X 30.5). 



General Range. — North America at large, except Arctic regions and Florida. 

 In the latter region replaced by C. a. pascuus. Of local distribution in the West. 



Range in Ohio. — Of general occurrence. Retires irregularly from the 

 northern portion of the state in winter. 



Photo by the Author. 

 GATHERING STORM AT THE CROW WOODS. 



CHESTI;R HEIGHTS (NEAR COI,UMBUS) WAS A WELL KNOWN CROW NESTING RESORT JUST 

 PREVIOUS TO ITS PRESENT OCCUPATION BY STYLISH RESIDENCES. 



THE Crow's year properly begins with the disbanding of the winter 

 roost in late February or early March. When the first south wind bursts 

 into the chilly atelier of spring, siezes a brush and paints the eastern sky with 

 somber blues and piled up grays, his picture is incomplete until there is 

 stretched across the canvas a long Ijlack line of the hurrying birds. Crows 



