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THE CAWING OF ROOKS 



THE cawing of rooks is one of the characteristic 

 sounds of spring, and it is one of good cheer. 

 There is vigor in it and exultation in the victory 

 of life over materials, for the building of big nests 

 on the delicate branches of the swaying tree-tops is 

 a real achievement. The cawing is the voice of 

 strong-willed mates and of jealous parents. It is 

 more than the babel of a crowd; it is the vocifera- 

 tion of big-brained creatures that have got past 

 simple gregariousness, and live in what is more than 

 the adumbration of a society. We like it too because 

 it is one of the earliest awakening voices of spring. 

 As the child's poem says : 



Buds of green on branch and stem. 



Glisten in the morning sun. 

 For the crows have wakened them, 



And they open one by one. 



We have been listening these days to the cawing 

 of the rooks, and they certainly have a considerable 

 vocabulary. There is probably no language in the 

 strict sense man has a monopoly of that; but the 

 rooks have words just as dogs have, definite uttered 

 sounds which have definite meanings. Words are 



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