22 CIRCULAR 520, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



of living prey is taken. The eagle has long been reputed to harass 

 the osprey until it drops its catch, which the eagle then recovers 

 and devours, but according to the writer's experience, this must be 

 an uncommon performance. The bald eagle does little harm to 

 healthy wildlife, is a magnificent bird, a master of the air, and the 

 embodiment of wild freedom. It should be preserved for its own 

 sake, and because it is the national emblem. 



VULTURES 



Vultures, or buzzards, as they are commonly called in this country 

 (the European buzzard is a large hawk), have no particular con- 

 nection with salt marshes but are great fliers that may frequently 

 pass over the marshes. They are large, chiefly black, birds, with 

 the skin of the head and neck bare like that of a turkey, for which 

 one of our species is named. The turkey buzzard, or turkey vul- 

 ture (Cathartes aura), with the head and neck red is common north 

 to New Jersey, but only a straggler beyond, while the black vulture 

 (Ooragyps atratus), with those parts black, is common north to 

 Maryland. Both inhabit the Southern States. Vultures are seen 

 in the air a great deal on windy days or on days when strong sun- 

 shine creates rising columns of air, the turkey vulture being es- 

 pecially adept at soaring. Both species feed chiefly on carrion and 

 are likely to be attracted by dead fishes along the shore. 



CROWS 



Crows need no description. Two kinds visit the Atlantic coast 

 salt marshes, but they are not readily distinguished by the inex- 

 perienced. The upland crow (Corvus ~brachyrhyncJios) , of almost 

 continental range, averages somewhat larger than the coastal fish 

 crow, however, and appears of sturdier build, particularly as to the 

 chest, head, and beak. It is more accustomed to long flights and 

 as a rule goes directly on its way with steady sweeping wing beats. 

 Its caw is hoarser and guttural. The fish crow (C. pssifragus) has 

 a more vacillating flight and a higher pitched and nasal car. The 

 fish crow resides along the coast and the estuaries of larger streams, 

 while the upland crow usually is bnly a visitor there. The fish crow 

 occurs regularly from the southern coasts as far north as Connecticut, 

 but is only a straggler beyond that State. 



Crows eat almost anything, and the upland species sometimes be- 

 comes injurious to crops. The fish crow has little contact with 

 farms but shares with its inland relative a fondness for the eggs 

 and young of other birds that from man's point of view sometimes 

 seems too pronounced. In the salt marshes, undoubtedly a high 

 percentage of the eggs eaten by crows are those of the clapper rail, 

 or marsh hen, and it has never even been suggested that the num- 

 bers of that bird are thereby reduced. Under some conditions, as 

 after the flooding of nests of clapper rails and other birds in salt 

 marshes by exceptionally high tides, eggs are washed out in wind- 

 rows, and then their consumption by crows has no unfavorable sig- 

 nificance. The writer has heard crows condemned on account of 

 the number of eggshells found under their nesting trees, when it 

 was perfectly evident that most of these were from drowned-out 

 nests of the clapper rail. This is said in extenuation of the food 



