Species II. COBVUS CORONE* 



CROW. 



[Plate XXXV. Fig. 3.] 



This is perhaps the most generally known, and least beloved, of all 

 our land birds ; having neither melody of song, nor beauty of plumage, 

 nor excellence of flesh, nor civility of manners, to recommend him : on 

 the contrary, he is branded as a thief and a plunderer ; a kind of black- 

 coated vagabond, who hovers over the fields of the industrious, fattening 

 on their labors ; and by his voracity often blasting their expectations. 

 Hated as he is by the farmer, watched and persecuted by almost every 

 bearer of a gun, who all triumph in his destruction, had not Heaven be- 

 stowed on him intelligence and sagacity far beyond common, there is 

 reason to believe that the whole tribe (in these parts at least) would long 

 ago have ceased to exist. 



The Crow is a constant attendant on agriculture, and a general in- 

 habitant of the cultivated parts of North America. In the interior of 

 the forest he is more rare, unless during the season of breeding. He is 

 particularly attached to low flat corn countries, lying in the neighbor- 

 hood of the sea or of large rivers ; and more numerous in the northern 

 than southern states, where Vultures abound, and with whom the Crows 

 are unable to contend. A strong antipathy, it is also said, prevails be- 

 tween the Crow and the Raven, insomuch that, where the latter are 

 numerous, the formerly rarely resides. Many of the first settlers of the 

 Genesee country informed me, that, for a long time. Ravens were nu- 

 merous with them, but no Crows ; and even now the latter are seldom 

 observed in that country. In travelling from Nashville to Natchez, a 

 distance of four hundred and seventy miles, I saw few or no Crows, but 

 Ravens frequently, and Vultures in great numbers. 



The usual breeding time of the Crow, in Pennsylvania, is in March, 

 April, and May, during which season they are dispersed over the woods 

 in pairs, and roost in the neighborhood of the tree they have selected 

 for their nest. About the middle of March they begin to build, gene- 

 rally choosing a high tree ; though I have also known them prefer a 

 middle sized cedar. One of their nests, now before me, is formed ex- 



* We give the following synonymes : Cormis corone, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, i., p. 

 105. — Gmel. Syst. 1, p. 365. — Lath. Ind. Om. p. 151. — Temm. Man. cP Orn. i., 

 p. 108. 



(121) 



