Species II. 
CORVUS COR ONE* 
CROW. 
[Plate XXXV. Fig. 3.] 
This is perhaps the most generally known, and least beloved, of all 
our land birds ; having neither melody of song, nor beauty of plumage, 
nor excellence of flesh, nor civility of manners, to recommend him : on 
the contrary, he is branded as a thief and a plunderer ; a kind of black- 
coated vagabond, who hovers over the fields of the industrious, fattening 
on their labors ; and by his voracity often blasting their expectations. 
Hated as he is by the farmer, watched and persecuted by almost every 
bearer of a gun, who all triumph in his destruction, had not Heaven be- 
stowed on him intelligence and sagacity far beyond common, there is 
reason to believe that the whole tribe (in these parts at least) Avould long 
ago have ceased to exist. 
The Crow is a constant attendant on agriculture, and a general in- 
habitant of the cultivated parts of North America. In the interior of 
the forest he is more rare, unless during the season of breeding. He is 
particularly attached to low flat corn countries, lying in the neighbor- 
hood of the sea or of large rivers ; and more numerous in the northern 
than southern states, where Vultures abound, and with whom the Crows 
are unable to contend. A strong antipathy, it is also said, prevails be- 
tween the Crow and the Raven, insomuch that, where the latter are 
numerous, the formerly rarely resides. Many of the first settlers of the 
Genesee country informed me, that, for a long time. Ravens were nu- 
merous with them, but no Crows ; and even now the latter are seldom 
observed in that country. In travelling from Nashville to Natchez, a 
distance of four hundred and seventy miles, I saw few or no Crows, but 
Ravens frequently, and Vultures in great numbers. 
The usual breeding time of the Crow, in Pennsylvania, is in March, 
April, and May, during which season they are dispersed over the woods 
in pairs, and roost in the neighborhood of the tree they have selected 
for their nest. About the middle of March they begin to build, gene- 
rally choosing a high tree ; though I have also known them prefer a 
middle sized cedar. One of their nests, now before me, is formed ex- 
* We give the following synonymes : Corvus corone, Linx. Syst. ed. 10, i., p. 
105. — Gmel. Syst. 1, p. 3G5. — Lath. lad. Dm. p. 151. — Temm. Man. Orn. i., 
p. 108. 
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