ANIMAL INTELLECT. I 23 



caution of the crow, we should not allow an interesting fact 

 to escape attention. If the cause of the alarm should be two 

 men, whether armed or not, the disappearance of one man 

 after a flock has taken flight is at once recognized by the 

 monitors, and nothing will induce them to signal the return 

 of their comrades, however artfully concealed the remaining 

 man may be. But let the latter depart, the intelligence is 

 immediately communicated, and the flock silently appears 

 and renews operations. 



It is evident from the foregoing that the crow possesses 

 some knowledge of numbers. Professor Thomas G. Gentry 

 had it from a reliable source that its knowledge of counting 

 is very limited and does not extend beyond the number five. 

 The information was determined in this wise : A tent was 

 erected in the middle of a corn field daily visited by these 

 birds. At first a couple of men entered it, thus frightening 

 the crows away. After the lapse of a half hour one of the 

 men retired, thinking thereby to deceive the crows. An hour 

 passed and none made an appearance. The second man then 

 left, and after having vanished from view, the birds settled 

 down in immense numbers. At this moment a trio of men 

 appeared and entered the tent. Shortly afterwards, one left ; 

 then another, the third remaining closely hid from view. But 

 it was not until after the third man had departed that the 

 crows returned. Four men next entered, and subsequently 

 five, with like results. Finally, a party of six men went into 

 the enclosure, and all left excepting one. After the fifth man 

 had disappeared the crows began to settle down upon the field 

 in great numbers, evidently unconscious of any hidden 

 danger, when to their utter dismay and confusion the sixth 

 man appeared. From the preceding there seems to be but one 

 conclusion that can be rationally drawn, that five expresses 

 the extreme limit of the crow's idea of numbers. 



Jn " Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," this observation on the 

 crows of that country is made : " In the inn garden I saw a 

 dog eating in the presence of several of these covetous birds. 



