_Corvus ossifragus_, WILSON, Am. Orn. V, 1812, 27, pl. xxxvii, f. 2.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 39.—IB. Syn. 1828, 57.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 385.—WAGLER, Syst. Avium, 1827, _Corvus_, No. 12.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 216.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 268; V, 479, pl. cxlvi.—IB. Syn. 1839, 151.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 94, pl. ccxxvi.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 571, pl. lxvii, f. 2.—SAMUELS, 363.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 297. SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; second rather longer than seventh; first shorter than the ninth. Glossy black, with green and violet reflections; the gloss of the belly greenish. Length, about 15.50; wing, 10.50; tail, less than 7.00; tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw. HAB. Atlantic coast, from New Jersey to Florida. The Fish Crow of the Atlantic States is readily distinguishable from the common Crow by the much smaller size (16 inches instead of 20; wing, about 11 inches instead of 13); the bill is broader at the base and tapers more rapidly to the end; the middle toe and claw are longer than the scutellate portion of the tarsus, not shorter, the inner claw not reaching to the base of the middle one. The tail is less rounded. The gloss on the belly is green instead of violet; that on the back is mixed with green, not entirely violet. HABITS. The Fish Crow of Eastern North America has a distribution restricted to the Southern Atlantic and the Gulf shore. It is found in the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and, according to Audubon, thence to the mouth of the Mississippi. West of that river it appears to be very rarely met with. Dr. Würdemann obtained it at Calcasieu, La. Mr. Allen, in a list of the birds of Massachusetts, published in 1864, names this species as an occasional visitor along the southern coast of that State, but I am not able to find any corroboration of the statement, and believe it to be a mistake. Dr. De Kay, in his Report on the birds of New York, states that this Crow is occasionally seen on the shores of Long Island, but Mr. Lawrence is confident that it never occurs farther north than Squaw Beach, in New Jersey. So, too, Mr. Townsend is quoted by both Audubon and Nuttall as authority for its occurrence on the Columbia River, of which we have no confirmation.