T H E FISH-CROW.
CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS, WlLS.
P L A T E C X L V I . MALE AND FEMALE.
THIS may be said to be the only species of Black Bird found in the
United States, that is not constantly subjected to persecution. You
would suppose it fully aware of its privileges, were you to witness the
liveliness of its motions, and to listen to its continued chatter. While
the Raven and the Common Crow are ever on the watch to escape the
effects of the enmity which man harbours towards them, the Fish-Crow
pays little attention to him as he approaches, and even enters his garden
to feed on his best fruits. Hundreds are seen to alight on the trees near
the towns and cities placed along our southern shores ; many fly over or
walk about the pools and rivers, and all pursue their avocations without
apprehension of danger from the lords of the land. This sense of security
arises entirely from the circumstance that man generally believes the
bird to be perfectly inoffensive, and glad am I, reader, that it at least
bears so good a character. .
The Fish-Crow is almost entirely confined to the maritime districts
of the Southern States, and there it abounds at all seasons. Those which
migrate proceed to the eastward about the beginning of April, and some
go as far as New York, where they are, however, rather rare. They ascend
the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, nearly up to its source, and
some breed in the State of Jersey every year; but all return to the
south at the approach of cold weather. Some go up the Mississippi for
four or five hundred miles, but I have not seen any higher on that stream,
which they generally leave to return to the vicinity of the sea-shore, in
the winter season. In East Florida, where they abound, I found them
breeding in February, in South Carolina about the 20th of March, and
in New Jersey a month later.
While on the St John's River in Florida, during the month of February,
I saw flocks of Fish-Crows, consisting of several hundred individuals,
sailing high in the air, somewhat in the manner of the Raven,
when the whole appeared paired, for I could see that, although in such
numbers, each pair moved distinctly apart. These aerial excursions would
last for hours, during the calm of a fine morning, after which the whole
would descend toward the water, to pursue their more usual avocations
in all the sociability of their nature. When their fishing, which lasted
about half an hour, was over, they would alight in flocks on the live oaks
and other trees near the shores, and there keep up their gabbling, pluming
themselves for hours. Once more they returned to their fishinggrounds,
where they remained until about an hour from sunset, when
they made for the interior, often proceeding thirty or forty miles, to roost
together in the trees of the Loblolly Pine. They scarcely utter a single
note during this retreat, but no sooner does the first glimmer of day appear
than the woods around echo to their matin cries of gratulation. They
depart at once for the sea-shores, noisy, lively, and happy. Now you
find them busily engaged over the bays and rivers, the wharfs, and even
the salt-ponds and marshes, searching for small fry, which they easily
secure with their claws as they pass close over the water, and picking up
any sort of garbage suited to their appetite.
Like the Raven, the Common Crow, or the Grakle, the Fish-Crow
robs other birds of their eggs and young. I observed this particularly
on the Florida Keys, where they even dared to plunder the nests of the
Cormorant (Carbo Graculus) and White Ibis, waiting with remarkable
patience, perched in the neighbourhood, 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