318 CROW. 
seizing the meat t1at hung within a foot or two of his hcad. On the 
shores of the ICoos-koos-ke river, on the west side of the great range 
of Rocky Mountains, they were found to be equally numerous. 
It is highly probable that those vast plains, or prairies, abounding 
with game and cattle, frequently killed for the mere hides, tallow, or 
even marrow-bones, may be one great inducement for the residency 
of these birds, so fond of flesh and carrion. Even the rigorous se- 
verity of winter in the high regions along the head waters of Rio du 
Nord, the Arkansaw, and Red River, seems insufficient to force them 
from those favorite haunts ; though it appears to increase their natural 
voracity to a very uncommon degree. Colonel Pike relates, that in 
the month of December, in the neighborhood of the North Mountain, 
N. lat. 41° W. long. 34°, Reaumur’s thermometer standing at 17° be- 
low 0, these birds were seen in great numbers. “ Our horses,” says 
he, “were obliged to scrape the snow away to obtain their miserable 
pittance; and, to increase their misfortunes, the poor animals were 
attacked by the Magpies, who, attracted by the scent of their sore 
backs, alighted on them, and, in defiance of their wincing and kicking, 
picked many places quite raw; the difficulty of procuring food ren- 
dering those birds so bold, as to alight on our men’s arms, and eat 
meat out of their hands.” * 
The Magpie is eighteen inches in length; the head, neck, upper 
part of the breast and back, are a deep velvety black; primaries, 
brownish black, streaked along their inner vanes with white; second- 
aries, rich purplish blue; greater coverts, green blue; scapulars, 
lower part of the breast and belly, white ; thighs and vent, black; tail, 
long ; the two exterior feathers scarcely half the length of the longest, 
the others increasing to the two middle ones, which taper towards 
their extremities. The color of this part of the plumage is very 
splendid, being glossy green, dashed with blue and bright purple; this 
last color bounds the green; nostrils, covered with a thick tuft of 
recumbent hairs, as are also the sides of the mouth; bill, legs, and 
feet, glossy black. The female differs only in the less brilliancy of 
her plumage. 
CROW.— CORVUS CORONKE.+ — Fie. 156. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 1246. 
CORVUS CORONE?— Linnxvs. 
Tis is perhaps the most generally known, and least beloved, of all 
our land birds; having yeither melody of song, nor beauty of plumage, 
nor excellence of flesh, nor civility of manners to recommend him; on 
* Prxx’s Journal, p. 170. ~ ; ° 
+ “The voice of this bird is so remarkably different from that of the Corone of 
Europe, that I was at first led to believe it a distinct specics ; but the most scrupu- 
