324 CROW. 
The habits of the Crow in his native state are so generally known 
as to require little further illustration. His watchfulness, and jealous 
sagacity in distinguishing a person with a gun, are notorious to every 
one. In spring, when he makes his appearance among the groves and 
low thickets, the whole feathered songsters are instantly alarmed, well 
knowing the depredations and murders he commits on their nests, 
eggs, and young. Few of them, however, have the courage to attack 
him, except the King Bird, who, on these occasions, teases and pur- 
sues him from place to place, diving on his back while high in air, and 
harassing him for a great distance. A single pair of these noble- 
spirited birds, whose nest was built near, have been known to protect 
a whole field of corn from the depredations of the Crows, not permit- 
ting one to approach it. 
The Crow is eighteen inches and a half long, and three feet two 
inches in extent; the genera] color is a shining 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 recum- 
bent feathers ; the wings, when shut, reach within an inch and a quar- 
ter of the tip of the tail, which is rounded ; fourth primary, the long- 
est ; secondaries scolloped 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 ob- 
served in the present 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 
difference, however, is not great. 
Besides grain, insects, and carrion, they feed on frogs, tadpoles, 
smal] fish, lizards, and shell fish; with the latter they frequently 
mount to a great height, dropping them on the rocks below, and de- 
scending after them to pick up the contents. The same habit is ob- 
servable 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 gen2rally found, and so numerous, 
on the sea shore, and along the banks +f our large rivers. 
