Vo, 'i9i9 XVI ] General Notes. 113 



Every one has noticed how commonly the Crow caws in triplets — caw, 

 caw, caio. Several years ago I found that a Crow near my house had a 

 habit of giving four short caws in groups of two — caw-caw, caw-caw — and 

 before long I discovered that other Crows in various localities many miles 

 apart cawed in the same way. I came to call this, after the fashion of the 

 fire-alarm, the 22 call. My attention being directed to this habit, I learned 

 that this was by no means the only number in the Crows' fire-alarm system. 

 My notes for August 19, 1915, read as follows: " Heard a Crow near the 

 house this morning that cawed the number 21 (caw caw (rest) caw) a large 

 number of times in succession — perhaps twenty or twenty-five times. 

 The caws were short. This was followed by five short caws delivered two 

 or three times, then two or three groups of three long caws, two or three 

 groups of four long caws, and the 22 call delivered a few times. (I am not 

 sure that I remember these various calls in the exact order.) " And for 

 October 22, 1916: " A Crow near our house this morning gave over and 

 over again many times a group of caws like the number 211 on the fire- 

 alarm, occupying two or three seconds. The time was so regular that I 

 could detect no variation. The length of the several notes was uniform, 

 I think, and so were the pitch and the quality, the rhythm being all that 

 differentiated the phrase from other performances of the Crow." And for 

 March 14, 1917: " A Crow this morning cawed 211 several times very 

 rapidly; i. e., each phrase was rapidly delivered." 



Now, intelligent as the Crow is reputed to be, I do not believe that he 

 has invented a Morse code of signals to convey information to his com- 

 panions. Nor, on the other hand, does it seem reasonable to suppose that 

 these performances are purely mechanical and involuntary. How can 

 we escape the belief that the bird takes a delight, not only in the exercise 

 of his vocal organs but also in the rhythm and the variety of his utterances? 

 Is he not, in a limited way, a true artist, a composer as well as a performer? 

 I ask it in all seriousness. 



I have long believed with Mr. Henry Oldys that birds take an aesthetic 

 pleasure in their own songs, and the case of the Crow seems to support 

 this view so strongly that I have ventured to call attention to it. In 

 support of the mechanistic view of bird-song the case of birds with cracked 

 voices and similar imperfections has been cited. It is pointed out that 

 such birds sing as vociferously as the good singers of their respective 

 species, and it is argued that if they possessed any aesthetic sense shame 

 would keep them silent. This argument would carry more weight with 

 me if I had not heard so many shameless human singers, whistlers, and 

 cornetists whose performances gave pleasure only to themselves and 

 positive pain to most of their hearers! — Francis H. Allen, West Roxbury, 

 Mass. 



Magpie (Pica pica hudsonia) in Northeastern Illinois. — The only 



actual capture of a Black-billed Magpie in Illinois that has come to my 



