Jamaican crow

The Jamaican crow, under the name "chattering crow", was described by the English naturalists John Ray in 1713 and Hans Sloane in 1725.^[2][3] The Irish physician Patrick Browne used the name "gabbling crow" for the species in 1756.^[4] In France the naturalists Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 and Comte de Buffon both used the name "La corneille de la Jamaique".^[5][6] A binomial name was not introduced until 1788 when the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae and coined the binomial name Corvus jamaicensis.^[7] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.^[8]

The overall appearance is sooty-grey, not at all glossy, like its relatives; though it does possess a similar dark grey patch of naked skin just behind the eye, and a smaller naked patch at the base of the bill. The bill itself is slate-grey and quite deep, tapering to a sharp point. The nasal bristles are relatively sparse usually leaving the nostrils on view. The iris is either grey-brown or red-brown, possibly depending on age. The legs and feet are black.

The voice, like its two nearest relatives, is very distinctive and consists of various jabbering and bubbling sounds (thus its common Jamaican Patois name, jabbering crow), but also a more leisurely "craaa-aa" and variations thereof, and somewhat of a musical burbling.^[9]

As its name suggests, this species is found on the island of Jamaica, where it inhabits woodland mixed with cleared areas, and can be frequently found in larger gardens. Though primarily a bird of hill and mountain forest, it comes down to lower elevations during the dry season, where it is more likely to be seen.

• John Crow, a local name for the turkey vulture in Jamaica ^[10]