260 Crows 
wary bird, or at the same time a more teachable one, 
than the crow. The crow is perfectly foolish about 
some things and very wise about others. My ex- 
perience with crows at “the blind” very well illus- 
trates the last statement. 
In the month of March I was tramping through a 
field near a piece of woods about a mile from Chat- 
ham, New Jersey, when I heard a great commotion 
among some crows and occasionally the report of a 
gun. I was interested to know what was going on, 
but an elevation of ground prevented me from seeing 
the birds. Changing my direction a trifle, in two or 
three minutes I was in full view of a flock of probably 
from twenty to twenty-five crows, most of which were 
circling about in the air, the remainder being perched 
upon tall trees. The elevation upon which I was 
standing gave me an unobstructed view over a small 
meadow, and at the farther side, near a fence skirted 
by bushes, I saw the reason for the cawing of the 
crows. About six rods from the fence, in the open 
meadow, was a post about five feet high, upon the 
top of which was perched a large bird, probably a 
hawk or an owl. I had not fully taken in the situa- 
tion, when one of the circling crows made a dive for 
the bird on the post, probably coming within a foot 
or two of it. It was just starting on the incline up- 
