CHAPTER XVlll 

 CROWS AND THEIR COUSINS 



In half an hour the chiklren were back again, all talk- 

 ing eagerly together. 



" The Redwings scolded us like everything ! " said 

 Dodo, "and Rap stepped right into an empty Meadow - 

 lark's nest, without seeing it. A little way back there 

 are lots of Bobolinks, too, singing and singing, but we 

 couldn't find a single nest." 



" It was pretty warm out there," said Nat, fanning 

 himself with a wide haymaker's hat, such as both he 

 and Dodo had worn since they came to the Farm. 



" Come under the shelter and rest until Olaf has 

 dinner ready. Where is Olive ? " 



" She is down by the water looking for seaweeds, 

 for her album." 



" Have we used up all the Blackbird family ? " asked 

 Dodo, as they sat on the sand and began to dig holes 

 with their hands. 



" Oh, no ; there is the biggest of all — the Crow," 

 said Nat. 



" Strange as it is," replied the Doctor, '' though the 

 Crow is the blackest of all our birds he does not belong 

 to the Blackbird family, but to a separate one of his 

 own — the family of Crows, Jays, and Magpies." 



'' How is that, Uncle Roy ? You said that beautiful 



275 



