A NATURALIST. 107 



proach of a man, especially if armed with a gun, calls 

 forth all their cunning and solicitude. The young are 

 immediately placed in the securest place at hand, where 

 the foliage is thickest, and remain perfectly motionless 

 and quiet. Not so the alarmed parents, both of which 

 fly nearer and nearer to the hunter, uttering the most 

 discordant screams, with an occasional peculiar note, 

 which seems intended to direct or warn their young. So 

 close do they approach, and so clamorous are they as the 

 hunter endeavours to get a good view of them on the tree, 

 that he is almost uniformly persuaded the young crows 

 are also concealed there; but he does not perceive, as he 

 is cautiously trying to get within gun shot, that they are 

 moving from tree to tree, and at each remove are farther 

 and farther from the place where the young are hid 

 After continuing this trick, until it is impossible that the 

 hunter can retain any idea of the situation of the young 

 ones, the parents cease their distressing outcries, fly 

 quietly to the most convenient lofty tree, and calmly 

 watch the movements of their disturber. Now and then 

 they utter a loud quick cry, which seems intended to bid 

 their offspring lie close and keep quiet, and it is very 

 generally the case that they escape all danger by their 

 obedience. An experienced crow-killer watches eagerly 

 for the tree where the crows first start from ; and if this 

 can be observed, he pays no attention to their clamours, 

 nor pretence of throwing themselves in his way, as he is 

 satisfied they are too vigilant to let him get a shot at 



