178 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



Already it was plain that the crows had picked 

 out this island for an autumn rendezvous. And 

 a very suitable place it was, with shady trees, 

 luscious dead-ripe choke-cherries in plenty, wa- 

 ter on every hand, countless feasts of crickets 

 and grasshoppers for easy picking, on the close- 

 cropped pasture, and across the slough, yellow- 

 ing wheat-fields. Just after we had left the 

 place, two parties of about forty each, arrived. 

 They were high in air and appeared to have come 

 from a distance. When nearing the bluff, they 

 sailed straight in, in the manner of vultures pic- 

 tured somewhere, and when over the place they 

 began to gyrate in as many different directions 

 and at as many different altitudes as there were 

 crows, and circling thus, they finally all settled 

 on the trees. Neither memory nor the note-book 

 holds a record of a similar performance. 



We called at an old deserted house in another 

 bluff to pay our respects to the barn swallows 

 that we felt sure would be there. Up on a beam 

 was a nest, with four handsome little heads beam- 

 ing over the edge. But when after much labor, 

 we dragged an old stove into position and I at- 

 tempted to mount it with the kodak, they said 

 " Good-afternoon " and flitted out of the win- 



