Shrike; the Fox, the Field, the Swamp, the Savanna, the White-crowned, the
Chipping, and the Song Sparrows; the Red-winged and the Rusty Blackbirds;
Meadowlark, the Grackles, Flicker, the Red-headed and the Yellow-bellied
Woodpeckers; Purple Finch, the Kinglets. the Nuthatches, Pine Siskin.
IV. BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZE
SMALLER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW
Humming-bird. The Redpolls.
The Kinglets. Goldfinch.
The Wrens. Pine Siskin.
All the Warblers not Savanna Sparrow.
mentioned elsewhere. Grasshopper Sparrow.
Redstart. Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Ovenbird. Chipping Sparrow.
Chickadee. Field Sparrow.
Tufted Titmouse. Swamp Song Sparrow.
Red-breasted Nuthatch. Indigo-Bunting.
White-breasted Nuthatch. Warbling Vireo.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Yellow-throated Vireo.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Red-eyed Vireo.
Acadian Flycatcher. White-eyed Vireo.
Least Flycatcher. Brown Creeper.
ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW
Purple Finch. Junco.
The Crossbills. Song Sparrow.
The Longspurs. Solitary Vireo.
Vesper Sparrow. The Water-thrushes.
Seaside Sparrow. Pipit or Titlark.
Tree Sparrow. Downy Woodpecker.
LARGER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW AND SMALLER THAN THE ROBIN
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Kingbird.
Chimney Swift (apparently). Crested Flycatcher.
The Swallows (apparently). Phoebe.
Olive-sided Flycatcher, Snowflake.
Wood Pewee. White-crowned Sparrow.
Horned Lark White-throated Sparrow.
Bobolink. Fox Sparrow
Cowbird. The Tanagers
Orchard Oriole. Cedar Bird.
Baltimore Oriole. Bohemian Waxwing.
The Grosbeaks: Evening, Blue, Yellow-breasted Chat.
Pine, Rose-breasted, The Thrushes.
and Cardinal. Bluebird.
ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE ROBIN.
Red-headed Woodpecker. Northern Shrike.
Hairy Woodpecker. Mocking-bird.
Red-winged Blackbird. Catbird.
Rusty Blackbird. Chewink.
Loggerhead Shrike. Purple Martin (apparently).
Starling.
LONGER THAN THE ROBIN
Mourning Dove. Blue Jay.
The Cuckoos. Canada Jay.
Kingfisher. Meadowlark.
Flicker. Whippoorwill (apparently).
Raven. Nighthawk (apparently).
Crow. The Grackles.
Fish Crow. Brown Thrasher.
V. DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS
GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR
BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK
Common Crow.
Fish Crow.
American Raven.
Purple Grackle.
Bronzed Grackle.
Rusty Blackbird.
Red-winged Blackbird.
Purple Martin.
Cowbird.
Starling.
See also several of the Swallows; the Kingbird, the Phoebe, the Wood Pewee and
other Flycatchers; the Chimney Swift; and the Chewink.
BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK
COMMON CROW
(Corvus americanus) Crow family
Called also: CORN THIEF; [AMERICAN CROW, AOU 1998]
Length -- 16 to 17.50 inches.
Male -- Glossy black with violet reflections. Wings appear
saw-toothed when spread, and almost equal the tail in length.
Female -- Like male, except that the black is less brilliant.
Range -- Throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Migrations -- March. October. Summer and winter resident.
If we have an eye for the picturesque, we place a certain value upon the
broad, strong dash of color in the landscape, given by a flock of crows
flapping their course above a corn-field, against an October sky; but the
practical eye of the farmer looks only for his gun in such a case. To him the
crow is an unmitigated nuisance, all the more maddening because it is clever
enough to circumvent every means devised for its ruin. Nothing escapes its
rapacity; fear is unknown to it. It migrates in broad daylight, chooses the
most conspicuous perches, and yet its assurance is amply justified in its
steadily increasing numbers.
In the very early spring, note well the friendly way in which the crow follows
the plow, ingratiating itself by eating the larvae, field mice, and worms
upturned in the furrows, for this is its one serviceable act throughout the
year. When the first brood of chickens is hatched, its serious depredations
begin. Not only the farmer's young fledglings, ducks, turkeys, and chicks, are
snatched up and devoured, but the nests of song birds are made desolate, eggs
being crushed and eaten on the spot, when there are no birds to carry off to
the rickety, coarse nest in the high tree top in the woods. The fish crow,
however, is the much greater enemy of the birds. Like the common crows, this,
their smaller cousin, likes to congregate in winter along the seacoast to feed
upon shell-fish and other sea-food that the tide brings to its feet.
Samuels claims to have seen a pair of crows visit an orchard and destroy the
young in two robins' nests in half an hour. He calculates that two crows kill,
in one day alone, young birds that in the course of the season would have
eaten a hundred thousand insects. When, in addition to these atrocities, we
remember the crow's depredations in the corn-field, it is small wonder that
among the first laws enacted in New York State was one offering a reward for
its head. But the more scientific agriculturists now concede that the crow is
the farmer's true friend.
FISH CROW (Corvus ossifragus) Crow family
Length -- 14 to 16 inches. About half as large again as the
robin.
Male and Female -- Glossy black, with purplish-blue reflections,
generally greener underneath. Chin naked.
Range -- Along Atlantic coast and that of the Gult of Mexico,
northward to southern New England. Rare stragglers or) the
Pacific coast.
Migrations -- March or April. September. Summer resident only at
northern limit of range. Is found in Hudson River valley about
half-way to Albany.
Compared with the common crow, with which it is often confounded, the fish
crow is of much smaller, more slender build. Thus its flight is less labored
and more like a gull's, whose habit of catching fish that may be swimming near
the surface of the water it sometimes adopts. Both Audubon and Wilson, who
first made this species known, record its habit of snatching food as it flies
over the southern waters -- a rare practice at the north. Its plumage, too,
differs slightly from the common crow's in being a richer black everywhere,
and particularly underneath, where the "corn thief" is dull. But it is the
difference between the two crows' call-note that we chiefly depend upon to
distinguish these confusing cousins. To say that the fish crow says car-r-r
instead of a loud, clear caw, means little until we have had an opportunity to
compare its hoarse, cracked voice with the other bird's familiar call.
From the farmer's point of view, there is still another distinction: the fish
crow lets his crops alone. It contents itself with picking up refuse on the
shores of the sea or rivers not far inland; haunting the neighborhood of
fishermen's huts for the small fish discarded when the seines are drawn, and
treading out with its toes the shell-fish hidden in the sand at low tide. When
we see it in the fields it is usually intent upon catching field-mice, grubs,
and worms, with which it often varies its fish diet. It is, however, the worst
nest robber we have; it probably destroys ten times as many eggs and young
birds as its larger cousin.
The fishermen have a tradition that this southern crow comes and goes with the
shad and herring -- a saw which science unkindly disapproves.
AMERICAN RAVEN
(Corvus corax principalis) Crow family
Called also: NORTHERN RAVEN; [COMMON RAVEN, AOU 1998]
Length -- 26 to 27 inches. Nearly three times as large as a
robin.
Male and Female -- Glossy black above, with purplish and greenish
reflections. Duller underneath. Feathers of the throat and
breast long and loose, like fringe.
Range -- North America, from polar regions to Mexico. Rare along
Atlantic coast and in the south. Common in the west, and very
abundant in the northwest.
Migrations -- An erratic wanderer, usually resident where it
finds its way.
The weird, uncanny voice of this great bird that soars in wide circles above
the evergreen trees of dark northern forests seems to come out of the skies
like the malediction of an evil spirit. Without uttering the words of any
language -- Poe's "Nevermore" was, of course, a poetic license -- people of
all nationalities appear to understand that some dire calamity, some wicked
portent, is being announced every time the unbirdlike creature utters its
rasping call. The superstitious folk crow with an "I told you so," as they
solemnly wag their heads when they hear, of some death in the village after
"the bird of ill-omen" has made an unwelcome visit to the neighborhood--it