Familiar Studies of Wild Birds 



the day. Flocks might be seen at almost any 

 time floating a few yards off shore. On 

 March 2nd, crows appeared in large numbers 

 flying eastward along the lake front, and in a 

 somewhat fluctuating stream they continued 

 to fly by day after day, chiefly in the morning, 

 for the rest of the month. The migratory 

 movement seemed to be about over by April 

 1st. Some winter resident crows had a favor- 

 ite perch in the rear of my camp, which they 

 occupied at frequent intervals with an eye to 

 seconding a pair of friendly red squirrels in a 

 camp raid. This afforded me an unusual op- 

 portunity of meditating on the profundity of 

 the crow language, particularly in the very 

 early morning. The caw note alone is ency- 

 clopedic in expressiveness, but there are count- 

 less other distinct sounds, endless subtle under- 

 tones and accentuations included in the crow's 

 dialect. 



One morning I walked around to a broken- 



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