THE CROW. 



Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys 

 and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw. 

 Just look at my coat of feathers. 

 See how black and glossy it is. 

 Do you wonder I am proud of it ? 



Perhaps you think I look very 

 solemn and wise, and not at all 

 as if I cared to play games. I 

 do, though ; and one of the 

 games I like best is hide-and- 

 seek. I play it with the farmer 

 in the spring. He hides, in the 

 rich, brown earth, golden kernels 

 of corn. Surely he does it be 

 cause he knows I like it, for 

 sometimes he puts up a stick all 

 dressed like a man to show 

 where the corn is hidden. Some 

 times I push my bill down into 

 the earth to find the corn, and at 

 other times I wait until tiny 

 green leaves begin to show above 

 the ground, and then I get my 

 breakfast without much trouble. 

 I wonder if the farmer enjoys 

 this game as much as I do. I 

 help him, too, by eating worms 

 .and insects. 



During the spring and sum 

 mer I live in my nest on the top 

 of a very high tree. It is built 

 of sticks and grasses and straw 

 and string and anything else I 

 can pick up. But in the fall, I 

 and all my relations and friends 

 live. together in great roosts or 

 rookeries. What good times 

 we do have hunting all day 

 for food and talking all night. 

 Wouldn't you like to be with us ? 



The farmer who lives in the 

 house over there went to the mill 

 to-day with a load of corn. 



One of the ears dropped out 

 of the wagon and it didn't take 

 me long to find it. I have eaten 

 all I can possibly hold and am 

 wondering now what is the best 

 thing to do. If you were in my 

 place would you leave it here 

 and not tell anybody and come 

 back to-morrow and finish it? Or 

 would you fly off and get Mrs. 

 Crow and some of the children 

 to come and finish it? I believe 

 I'll fly and get them. Goodbye. 



Caw! Caw! Caw! 



97 



