Lewis: December 18, 1805

Fort Clatsop, December 18th 1805. This day one of the men shot a bird of
the Corvus genus, which was feeding on some fragments of meat near the
camp. this bird is about the size of the kingbird or bee martin, and not
unlike that bird in form. the beak is 3/4 of an inch long, wide at the
base, of a convex, and cultrated figure, beset with some small black hairs
near it’s base. the chaps are of nearly equal lengths tho the upper
exceeds the under one a little, and has a small nich in the upper chap
near the extremity perceptable only by close examineation. the colour of
the beak is black. the eye is large and prominent, the puple black, and
iris of a dark yellowish brown. the legs and feet are black and
imbricated. has four toes on each foot armed with long sharp tallons; the
hinder toe is nearly as long as the middle toe in front and longer than
the two remaining toes. the tale is composed of twelve fathers the longest
of which are five inches, being six in number placed in the center. the
remaining six are placed 3 on either side and graduly deminish to four
inches which is the shortest and outer feathers. the tail is half the
length of the bird, the whole length from the extremity of the beak to the
extremity of the tale being 10 Inches. the head from it’s joining the nect
forward as far as the eyes nearly to the base of the beak and on each side
as low as the center of the eye is black. arround the base of the beak the
throat jaws, neck, brest and belley are of a pale bluish white. the wings
back and tale are of a bluish black with a small shade of brown. this bird
is common to this piny country are also found in the rockey mountains on
the waters of the columbia river or woody side of those mountains, appear
to frequent the highest sumits of those mountains as far as they are
covered with timber. their note is que, quit-it, que-hoo; and tah, tah,
&there is another bird of reather larger size which I saw on
the woddy parts of the rockey mountains and on the waters of the Missouri,
this bird I could never kill tho I made several attempts, the predominate
colour is a dark blue the tale is long and they are not crested; I believe
them to be of the corvus genus also. their note is char, char, char-ar,
char; the large blue crested corvus of the Columbia river is also