THE WESTERN CROW. II 
seems that one old fellow was not satisfied, for as I ventured to shift 
ever so little from my strained position, he set up a derisive Ca-a-a-aw 
from a branch over my head,—as who should say, “Aw, ye can’t fool me. 
Y’re just a ma-a-an,” and flapped away in disgust. 
Crows attempt certain musical notes as well; and, unless I mistake, the 
western bird has attained much greater proficiency in these. ‘These notes are 
deeply guttural, and evidently entail considerable effort on the bird’s part. 
Hunger-o-ope, hunger-o-ope, one says; and it occurs to me that this is allied 
to the delary, delary, or springboard ery, of the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cris- 
tata),—plunging notes they have also been called. 
Space fails in which to describe the elaborate structure of Crow society ; 
to tell of the military and pedagogical systems which they enforce; of the 
courts of justice and penal institutions which they maintain; of the vigilantes 
who visit vengeance upon evil-minded owls and other offenders; or even of the 
games which they play,—tag, hide and seek, blind-man’s-buff and pull-away. 
These things are sufficiently attested by competent observers; we may only 
spare a word for that most serious business of life, nesting. 
A typical Crow’s nest is a very substantial affair, as our illustration shows. 
Upon a basis of coarse sticks, a mat of dried leaves, grasses, bark-strips, and 
dirt, or mud, is impressed. The deep rounded bowl thus formed is carefully 
lined with the inner bark of the willow or with twine, horse-hair, cow-hair, 
rabbit-fur, wool, or any other soft substance available. \When completed the 
nesting hollow is seven or eight inches across and three or four deep. The 
expression “‘Crow’s nest,” as used to indicate disarray, really arises from the 
consideration of old nests. Since the birds resort to the same locality year 
after year, but never use an old nest, the neighboring structures of successive 
years come to represent every stage of dilapidation. 
West of the mountains nests are almost invariably placed well up in fir 
trees, hard against the trunk, and so escape the common observation. Upon 
the East-side, however, nests are usually placed in aspen trees or willows; in 
the former case occurring at heights up to fifty feet, in the latter from ten to 
twenty feet up. Escape by mere elevation being practically impossible, the 
Crows resort more or less to out-of-the-way places,—spring draws, river 
islands, and swampy thickets. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the spring season opens much earlier than 
in the East, the Crows, true to the traditions of a northern latitude, commonly 
defer nesting till late in April. Fresh eggs may be found by the 20th of April, 
but more surely on the ist of May. Incubation lasts from fourteen to eighteen 
days; and the young, commonly five but sometimes six in number, are born 
naked and blind. 
It is when the Crow children are hatched that Nature begins to groan. It 
is then that birds’ eggs are quoted by the crate; and beetles by the hecatomb 
