96 
THE FISH-CROW. 
and White Ibis, waiting with, remarkable patience, perched in the neigh- 
bourhood, until these birds left their charge. They also frequently alight 
on large mud flats bordering the salt-water marshes, for the purpose of 
catching the small crabs called fiddlers. This they do with ease, by running- 
after them or digging them out of the muddy burrows into which they retire 
at the approach of danger. I have frequently been amused, while standing 
on the “ Levee” at New Orleans, to see the alacrity and audacity with which 
they pursued and attacked the smaller Gulls and Terns, to force them to 
disgorge the small fish caught by them within sight of the Crows, which, 
with all the tyrannical fierceness of the Lestris, would chase the sea birds 
with open bill, and extended feet and claws, dashing towards their victims 
with redoubled ardour, the farther they attempted to retreat. But as most 
Gulls are greatly superior in flight to the Crow, the black tyrants are often 
frustrated in their attempts, and obliged to return, and seek their food in 
the eddies by their own industry. They are able to catch fish alive with 
considerable dexterity, but cannot feed on the wing, and for that purpose 
are obliged to retire to some tree, stake, or sandbank ; and like the Common 
Crow, the Magpie, and the Cow Bunting, they sometimes alight on the backs 
of cattle, to search there for the larvte which frequently harbour in their 
skin. 
During winter and spring, the Fish-Crows are very fond of feeding on 
many kinds of berries. After the frosts have imparted a rich flavour to 
those of the cassina ( Vex cassina), they are seen feeding on them in flocks 
often amounting to more than a hundred individuals. They are also fond of 
the berries of the holly ( Ilex opaca ), and of those of an exotic tree now 
naturalized in South Carolina, and plentiful about Charleston, the tallow- 
tree ( Stillingia sebifera). The seeds of this tree, which is originally from 
China, are of a white colour when ripe, and contain a considerable quantity 
of an oily substance. In the months of January and February these trees 
are covered by the Crows, which greedily devour the berries. As spring 
advances, and the early fruits ripen, the Fish-Crows become fond of the 
mulberry, and select the choicest of the ripe figs, more especially when they 
are feeding their young. A dozen are often seen at a time, searching for 
the tree which has the best figs, and so troublesome do they become in the 
immediate vicinity of Charleston, that it is found necessary to station a man 
near a fig tree with a gun, not to burn powder to drive the Crows away by 
the smell, but to fire in good earnest at them. They eat pears also, as well 
as various kinds of huckleberries ( Vaccinium), and I have seen them feed- 
ing on the berries of at least one species of smilax. 
In the Floridas, Georgia, and the Carolinas, this species usually breeds 
on moderate-sized trees of the loblolly pine ( Pinus Toeda ), making its nest 
