258 (,‘ROWS, JA YS, ETC.

it means: he has far too much confidence in his undoubted ability to escape his human perseeutors. lle laughs at their attempts to cut ‘ap him; his insolent assurance is adnii ‘ablo. For several centuries man has been his sworn enemy. nevertheless he appears to have held his own, accepting and adjusting himself to every new condition.

Af'aid of no one. he migrates boldly by day, and in March and October we may see him with his comrades high in the air, returning to or leaving their summer homes. In winter the Crows are exceed— ingly abundant along our seacoasts, where they congregate to feed on mollusks, fish, and other sea food.

At this season they roost in colonies. It. has been estimated that some roosts contain upward of three hundred thousand birds.* Early in the morning, with regularly executed manoeuvres, they start on the day's foraging, flying low, on the lookout for food. Late in the after- noon they return at a much greater height——" as the (‘row flies ”—and, alighting at some point near the roost, wait the coming of the last straggler“. Then, at a given signal, they all rise and retire for the night.

No one who has listened to Crows will doubt that they have :1. lan-

guage. But who can translate it?

4883.. C. a. floridanus Baird, FLonun (Meow—Similar to the pre— ceding, but wings and tail somewhat shorter. and bill and feet slightly larger. L, ”MI”; W., 11'5042'5‘70; T., T'ULLT'TO; 1%., 120042-20; depth of B. at base, ‘7 ; TILL, 2407250 iRidguzi.

JCM/iyA—Ji‘lorida, confined largely to the pine-woods.

5,

490. Corvus ossifragus IVE/S. Fisn CHOW, All. Entire plumage black, with steel—blue or deep purplish retleetions, generally more greenish on the under parts. L, 16'00: “1, 11'00; T.. (340; B., 1'30.

lie/mu'hxx—The Fish Crow may be distinguished from the common Crow (ll by its much smaller size. ('2) By the uniform and somewhat richer color of the back. In «unaided/ms the feathers of the back have dull tips; when the freshly—planiaged bird is: held between the observer and the light these tips give the back a ringed or slightly smlzv/ appearanee. In max-ifralaus these tips are wanting. and the back is uniformly colored. (9,) By the brighter color of the under parts. ln «mm-[mums the under parts are generally much dune;- thun the upper parts; in nmi/‘Mfiiza they are nearly as bright.

IL,IIIII(/(’.#(;lllf and Atlantic coast, as far north as southern Connecticut; resident except at the extreme northern part of its range.

Washington, rather common I" 11. Cambridge, A. V., one record, Mch.

Nst, ot' stii-ks, lined with strips of grapevine bark. moss. grasses, etc., generally in pines or eedars, twenty to titty feet up. [fig/ya, four to six, simi— lar in color to those of (C vulnm'mnus, 1'52 x 1-093.

* Rhoads, Crow Roosts and Roosting Crows, Am. Nat, 1886. pp. (391—700, 777—787.