132 
SINGING BIRDS. 
lizards in the same manner, and feed upon small crabs; at 
times they are seen even contending with the Gulls for their 
prey. It is amusing to see with what steady watchfulness they 
hover over the water in search of their precarious food, having, 
in fact, all the traits of the Gull ; but they subsist more on 
accidental supplies than by any regular system of fishing. On 
land they have sometimes all the fiimiliarity of the Magpie, 
hopping upon the backs of cattle, in whose company they no 
doubt occasionally meet with a supply of insects when other 
sources fail. They are also regular in their attendance on the 
fishermen of New Jersey for the purpose of gleaning up the 
refuse of the fish. They are less shy and suspicious than 
the common Crow, and showing no inclmation for plundering 
the cornfields, are rather friends than enemies to the farmer. 
They appear near Philadelphia from the middle of March to 
the beginning of June, during the season of the shad and herring 
fishery. 
The habitat now accorded to this species is “ the Atlantic and 
Gnlf States north to Long Island and west to Louisiana.” It 
probably occurs occasionally along the Connecticut shore, and may 
straggle into Massachusetts ; though Mr. Allen has omitted it from 
his list. 
On the Pacific coast it is replaced by C. caurinus. 
All Crows are more or less fish-eaters, and in some localities fish 
forms their staple diet. On the shores of Cape Breton, near the 
coal districts, the fish-eating Crows are separated by the natives 
from the common sort. It is said that the flight and voice of these 
birds can be readily distinguished. Some miners working at 
Lepreaux, in New Brunswick, who were familiar with the fish- 
eating Crows of Cape Breton, drew my attention to a flock of 
apparently small and peculiar-voiced Crows gleaning along the 
shores ; but though easily trapped by a fish bait, they proved to 
be nothing more than rather small common Crows. 
Note. — The American Magpie {Pica pica hudsonicd) is a 
Western and Northwestern bird, and occurs as a straggler only 
east of the Mississippi. It has been taken in Michigan, northern 
Illinois, and western Ontario ; also at Chambly, near Montreal. 
