28 



PISH CROW. 



On my journey through the Mississippi terri ory, last year, I 

 resided for some time at the seat of my hospitable friend Dr. Sa- 

 muel Brown, a few mile from Fort Adams on the Mississippi. In 

 my various excursions there among the lofty fragrance-breathing 

 magnolia woods, and magnificent scenery that adorn the luxuriant 

 face of nature in those southern regions, this species of Crow fre- 

 quently made its appearance, distinguished by the same voice and 

 habits it had in Georgia. There is in many of the ponds there, a 

 singular kind of lizard, that swims about with its head above the 

 surface, making a loud sound, not unlike the harsh jarring of a door. 

 These the Crow now before us would frequently seize with his 

 claws, as he flew along the surface, and retire to the summit of a 

 dead tree to enjoy his repast. Here I also observed him a pretty 

 constant attendant at the pens where the cows were usually milked, 

 and much less shy, less suspicious, and more solitary than the com- 

 mon Crow. In the county of Cape May, New Jersey, I again met 

 with these Crows, particularly along Egg-Harbour river; and lat- 

 terly on the Schuylkill and Delaware, near Philadelphia, during the 

 season of shad and herring fishing, viz, from the middle of March 

 till the beginning of June. A small party of these Crows, during 

 this period, regularly passed Mr. Bartram's gardens to the high 

 woods to roost, every evening a little before sun-set, and as regu- 

 larly returned at or before sun-rise every morning, directing their 

 course towards the river. The fishermen along these rivers also 

 inform me, that they have particularly remarked this Crow, by his 

 croaking voice, and his fondness for fish; almost always hovering 

 about their fishing places to glean up the refuse. Of their manner 

 of breeding I can only say, that they separate into pairs, and build 

 in tall trees near the sea or river shore; one of their nests having 

 been built this season in a piece of tall woods near Mr. Beasley's, at 

 Great Egg-Harbour. The male of this nest furnished me with the 

 figure in the plate, which was drawn of fiill size, and afterwards re- 

 duced to one-third the size of life, to correspond with the rest of 



