A KATURALIST. 113 



the gun was discharged, the crows made a sort of halt, 

 descended considerably, flying in circles, and screaming 

 most vociferously, as if in contempt or derision. Had I 

 been prepared for this, a few of them might have suffer- 

 ed for their bravado. But my second gun was in the 

 bow of the boat, and before I could get it, the black 

 gentry had risen to their former security. While we 

 were sitting at tea that evening, a black came to inform 

 me that a considerable flock of crows, which had arrived 

 too late to join the great flock, had pitched in the young 

 pines not a great way from the house, and at a short 

 distance from the road-side. We quickly had the guns 

 in readiness, and I scarcely could restrain my impa- 

 tience until it should be late enough and dark enough to 

 give us a chance of success. Without thinking of any 

 thing but the great number of the crows, and their in- 

 ability to fly to advantage in the night, my notions of 

 the numbers we should bring home were extravagant 

 enough, and I only regretted that we might be obliged 

 to leave some behind. At length, led by the black boy, 

 we sallied forth, and soon arrived in the vicinity of this 

 temporary and unusual roost ; and now the true charac- 

 ter of the enterprise began to appear. We were to leave 

 the road, and penetrate several hundred yards among 

 the pines, whose proximity to each other, and the diffi- 

 culty of moving between which, on account of the dead 

 branches, has been heretofore stated. Next, we had to 

 be careful not to alarm the crows before we were ready 

 10* 



