CIRCUIT OF THE SUMMER HILLS 



whether they meet by appointment in the human 

 fashion, whether it is a jubilee, a parliament, or a con- 

 vention, I confess I should like to know. But second 

 thought tells me it is more likely the gregarious in- 

 stinct asserting itself after the scatterings and sepa- 

 rations of the summer. The time of the rookery is 

 not far off, when the inclement season will find all 

 the crows from a large section of the country massed 

 at night in lonely tree-tops in some secluded wood. 



These early noisy assemblages may be prelimin- 

 ary to the winter union of the tribe. What an engross- 

 ing affair it seems to be with the crows ! how obliv- 

 ious they appear to all else in the world ! The world 

 was made for crows, and what concerns them is 

 alone important. The meeting adjourns, from time 

 to time, from the fields to the woods, then back 

 again, the Babel of voices waxing or waning accord- 

 ing as they are on the wing or at rest. Sometimes 

 they meet several days in succession and then dis- 

 perse, going away in different directions and irregu- 

 larly, singly or in pairs and bands, as men do on 

 similar occasions. No doubt in these great reunions 

 the crows experience some sort of feeling or emotion, 

 though one would doubtless err in ascribing to them 

 anything like human procedure. It is not a definite 

 purpose, but a tribal instinct, that finds expression 

 in their jubilees. 



The crows seem to have a great deal of business 

 besides getting a living. How social, how communi- 

 41 



