AMERICAN CEOW 11 



door in the same way, never resting till she 

 whistled back to him. His nest was in a tangle 

 beside the garden fence, which ran under a cover 

 of bushes ; and after he had promenaded back and 

 forth on it all day, attending to his domestic 

 duties, at sunset he would fly to his favorite 

 branch in the garden to sing before his sympa- 

 thetic friend. And so, through the soft twilight, 

 as she sat alone looking out upon the flaming 

 poppies, opening yellow primroses, and tall stately 

 lilies, cheered and enraptured she would listen to 

 his impassioned sunset song. That the friendly 

 bird was really attracted to the garden by his 

 love of human companionship) was shown pre- 

 sumably one spring, for his gentle mistress was 

 away from home when he came north, and though 

 the garden was blooming, it apparently seemed 

 deserted to him, for he went elsewhere to build 

 his nest. When the old lady returned she missed 

 him sadly, but later she was satisfied that it was 

 he who sometimes appeared in the garden at sun- 

 set and sang to her in the home trees. 



American Crow : Conms americanus. 



Entirely black, with steel-blue or purplish reflections. Length, 



about lOj inches. 

 Geographic Distribution. — North America, from the fur 



countries to Mexico ; winters from the northern United States 



southward. 



Crows are known to every one, and most of us 

 have seen long lines of them straggling across the 



