A NATURALIST. 107 



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 ap- 

 proach, 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 throw- 

 ing themselves in his way, as he is satisfied they are 

 too vigilant to let him get a shot at them ; and if he 

 can see the young, he is tolerably sure of them all, 

 because of their inability to fly or change place 

 readily. 



The time of the year in which the farmers suffer 



