CIJOWS AND .lA^'S. H'^l 



Trows, Jays, ktc (Famti^y Coryid.-t:.) 



There are systeniatists \v]u) think tliat the members 

 of this family should liold tlie place usually assigned the 

 Thrushes, at the head of the class Aves. LeaYiug f)ut of 

 the case anatomical details whose Yalue is disputed, we 

 might object to a family of songless birds being giyen lirst 

 rank in a gi-oup wliose leading character is power of 

 song, liut while Crows and Jays may, from a musical 

 8tand})oint, be considered songless, no one can deny their 

 great yocal powers. Song, after all, does not imply high 

 rank in bird-life, and some of the sweetest singers (among 

 others, some Snipe, and the Tinamous and Wood Quail 

 of South America) are not members of the suborder of 

 Song Birds. 



Tf, howeyer, the relatiYC intelligence of the two fam- 

 ilies be taken into account, there can be no doubt that 

 Corvidrp fully deserve to be considered the most highly 

 developed of birds. How many tales are told of the 

 human actions of the Raven, Hook, Jackdaw, Magpie, 

 Jay, and Crow I 



Of the two hundred members of this family, six in- 

 habit eastern Xorth America, by far the most common 

 being the Crow. Xo one of our birds 

 American Crow, -^ ^^^^^^^^, known, and still, how icrnorant 

 CorvuH amertcanun. ' 



we are of his ways! I am not sure 

 that he does not know more about ours. AVe have not 

 even recorded his notes, for, in spite of the current opin- 

 ion that the Crow's calls are restricted to C(tu\ he has an 

 extended vocabulai-y. I am not aware that he ever 

 asceiuls to the height of a love song, but that he can 

 converse fluently no one who has listened to him will 

 question. Of the variants of ('<ni\ each with its own 



significance, there seems no end ; but if you would be 

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