142 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



tempting bone. "The mystery deepens," he 

 seemed to say to himself. But after half an hour's 

 investigation, and after approaching several times 

 within a few feet of the food upon the ground, 

 he seemed to conclude there was no connection 

 between it and the piece hanging by the string. 

 So he finally walked up to it and fell to pecking 

 it, flickering his wings all the time, as a sign of 

 his watchfulness. He also turned up his eye, 

 momentarily, to the piece in the air above, as if 

 it might be some disguised sword of Damocles 

 ready to fall upon him. Soon his mate came and 

 alighted on a low branch of the tree. The feed- 

 ing crow regarded him a moment, and then flew 

 up to his side, as if to give him a turn at the 

 meat. But he refused to run the risk. He evi- 

 dently looked upon the whole thing as a delusion 

 and a snare, and presently went away, and his 

 mate followed him. Then I placed the bone in 

 one of the main forks of the tree, but the crows 

 kept at a safe distance from it. Then I put it 

 back to the ground, but they grew more and 

 more suspicious ; some evil intent in it all, they 

 thought. Finally a dog carried off the bone, and 

 the crows ceased to visit the tree. 



From my boyhood I have seen the yearly meet- 

 ing of the crows in September or October, on a 



