CROW. 127 



The Crow is eighteen inches and a half long, and three feet two inches 

 in extent ; the general color is a shijiing glossy blue black, with purplish 

 reflections ; the throat and lower parts are less glossy ; the bill and legs 

 a shining black, the former two inches and a quarter long, very strong, 

 and covered at the base with thick tufts of recumbent feathers ; the 

 wings, when shut, reach within an inch and a quarter of the tip of the 

 tail, which is rounded ; fourth primary the longest ; secondaries scal- 

 lopped at the ends, and minutely pointed, by the prolongation of the 

 shaft ; iris dark hazel. 



The above description agrees so nearly with the European species as 

 to satisfy me that they are the same ; though the voice of ours is said to 

 be less harsh, not unlike the barking of a small spaniel ; the pointedness 

 of the ends of the tail feathers, mentioned by European naturalists, and 

 occasioned by the extension of the shafts, is rarely observed in the pre- 

 sent species, though always very observable in the secondaries. 



The female differs from the male in being more dull colored, and rather 

 deficient in the glossy and purplish tints and reflections. The difierence, 

 however, is not great. 



Besides grain, insects, and carrion, they feed on frogs, tadpoles, small 

 fish, lizards, and shell-fish ; with the latter they frequently mount to a 

 great height, dropping them on the rocks below, and descending after 

 them to pick up the contents. The same habit is observable in the Gull, 

 the Raven, and Sea-side Crow. Many other aquatic insects, as well as 

 marine plants, furnish them with food ; which accounts for their being 

 so generally found, and so numerous, on the sea-shore, and along the 

 banks of our large rivers. 



