2l8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the Crow, early and late, through the months of May, June and July and 

 have watched with loving care the nests of their woodland songsters. They 

 will find the Crow among the worst enemies of the bird's nest and the 

 fledgling. 



Corvus ossifragus Wilson 



Fish Crow 



Plate 72 



Corvus ossifragus Wilson. Amer. Orn. 1812. 5:27, pi. 37, fig. 2 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. 2:135 

 A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 229. No. 490 

 ossifragus, Lat., bonebreaking, referring to its piscivorous diet 



Description. Distinguished from the common Crow by its smaller 

 size. It is, however, of a more uniform black color, with bright bluish 

 and greenish reflection on the under parts as well as on the upper parts. 

 It may also be distinguished by its call notes which resemble those of a 

 young Crow. 



Length 1 5-1 7.5 inches; wing lo-ii; tail 6-7; bill 1.7; tarsus 1.7-2. 



Distribution. This crow inhabits the coastal districts of the eastern 

 United States from Connecticut to Louisiana and Florida. In New .York 

 it is confined to the lower Hudson valley as far as West Point and 

 occasionally to Poughkeepsie, very rarely farther up the river, and to the 

 western portion of Long Island. It has been reported from Rockaway, 

 July 1873, by Eagle; Oyster Bay, December 30, 1874, by T. Roosevelt; 

 Riverdale, by Bicknell; West Point, by Mearns; Mt Vernon, by Eames; 

 Sandy Hook, by Zarega; Esopus-on-the-Hudson, as a common summer 

 resident, by Burroughs (see Bicknell, " Birds of the Catskills," page 135); 

 Staten Island, fairly common, and Long Island, fairly common and breed- 

 ing, by Purdy; Bellport, Long Island, common summer resident, breeding, 

 W. A. Babson; Manhasset, Long Island, 4 specimens, by Dutcher; Park- 

 ville. Long Island, nest and eggs taken in 1894 by H. C. Oberholzer; reported 

 from Hudson by Will Richard and Troy by F. S. Webster; also reported 

 as identified by size and note near Geneva, N. Y., by F. H. Hall and Otto 

 McCreary. Although the species may occasionally be found as far inland 



