Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/304



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 secu- rity 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 Avhich 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 as- cend 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