Species IV. 
CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS. 
FISH-CROW. 
[Plate XXXVII. Fig. 2.] 
This is another roving inhabitant of our coasts, ponds, and river 
shores; though a much less distinguished one than the preceding,* this 
being the first time, as far as I can learn, that he has ever been intro- 
duced to the notice of the world. 
I first met -vvith this species on the coast of Georgia, and observed 
that they regularly retired to the interior as evening approached, and 
came down to the shores of the river Savannah, by the first appearance 
of day. Their voice first attracted my notice, being very different from 
that of the common Crow, more hoarse and guttural, uttered as if some- 
thing stuck in their throat, and varied into several modulations as they 
flew along. Their manner of flying was also unlike the others, as they 
frequently sailed about, without flapping the wings, something in the 
manner of the Raven ; and I soon perceived that their food, and their 
mode of procuring it, were also both di0"erent; their favorite haunts 
being about the banks of the river, along which they usually sailed, dex- 
terously snatching up, with their claws, dead fish, or other ga.rbage, 
that floated on the surface. At the country seat of Stephen Elliot, 
Esq., near the Ogeechee river, I took notice of these Crows frequently 
perching on the backs of the cattle, like the Magpie and Jackdaw of 
Britain ; but never mingling with the common Crows ; and diflering 
from them in this particular, that the latter generally retire to the 
shore, the reeds and marshes, to roost ; vfhile the Fish-Crow, always a 
little before sunset, seeks the interior high woods to repose in. 
In my journey through the Mississippi Territory, last year, I resided 
for some time at the seat of my hospitable friend. Dr. Samuel Brown, a 
few miles from Fort Adams, on the Mississippi. In my -various excur- 
sions 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 frequently 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 
* The Fish-Hawk, figured in the same plate, and which immediately precedes the 
Fish-Crow, in the text of the original edition. 
Vol. I.— 9 (129) 
