64 



THE CROW, 



One day last April, while lying under a bush by a stream, 

 and in the edge of a forest, in watch of ducks, I was startled 

 by a stentorious demonstration near by among the Crows. 

 Looking up I saw an immense tree-top literally black with 

 them. The object of their indignation, to which every head 

 was turned, was a Great Horned Owl, which sat staring and 

 blinking in the middle of the tree. Evidently their bowing 

 in concert with raised wings, and cawing enough to tear 

 their throats, were anything but agreeable to him. The roar 

 might have been heard a mile or more away, as each poured 

 forth his volume of charges against this goggling, glimmer- 

 ing Night-watch. Presently, several dashed at him with 

 wide-spread wings, when he rose and beat away through 

 the tree-tops, followed by the long and deafening train of 

 black persecutors. Alighting low down among the hem- 

 locks, he was as bitterly attacked as before; and though he 

 moved thus several times, until he was more than a mile 

 away, I could still hear the same noisy demonstrations of 

 bitter and persistent ill-will. 



The nest, which is well hidden in the forest, and made 

 early in spring, is composed of sticks, interwoven and lined 

 with grasses, and sometimes with considerable horse-hair 

 and other soft materials, there being almost invariably some 

 dark mould in the bottom, perhaps to keep it cool. It is 

 generally placed pretty well up in a tree, and contains from 

 four to six eggs, of a light green, spotted and blotched with 

 blackish brown, and about the size of a small hen's ^%^^ 

 some 1.70 X 1.20. On Manitoulin Island and in the vicinity 

 I found the Crow's nests in immense numbers. Indeed, they 

 were much more common than the nest of any other bird. 



Can the Crow learn to talk? To this I have but one 

 authoritative answer. A very intelligent and estimable 

 lady, the daughter of a frontier missionary in the early 



