£48 
CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS. 
during this period, regularly passed Mr Bartram’s 
gardens to the high woods to roost, every evening a 
little before sunset, and as regularly returned, at or 
before sunrise 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. From the circum- 
stance of six or seven being usually seen here together 
in the month of July, it is probable that they have at 
least four or five young at a time. 
I can find no description of this species by any former 
writer. Mr Bartram mentions a bird of this tribe* 
which he calls the great seaside crow ; but the present 
species is considerably inferior in size to the common 
crow, and having myself seen and examined it in so 
many and remotely situated parts of the country, and 
found it in all these places alike, I have no hesitation 
in pronouncing it to be a new' and hitherto undescribed 
species. 
The fish crow is sixteen inches long, and thirty-three 
in extent ; black all over, with reflections of steel-blue 
and purple ; the chin is bare of feathers around the 
base of the lower mandible; upper mandible notched 
near the tip, the edges of both turned inwards about 
the middle ; eye, very small, placed near the corner of 
the mouth, and of a dark hazel colour ; recumbent hairs 
or bristles, large and long ; ear-feathers, prominent ; 
first primary little more than half the length, fourth 
the longest; wdngs, when shut, reach within two inches 
of the tip of the tail ; tail, rounded, and seven inches 
long from its insertion ; thighs, very long ; legs, stout ; 
claws, sharp, long and hooked, hind one the largest, all 
jet black. Male and female much alike. 
I would beg leave to recommend to the watchful 
