114 RAMBLES OF 



shoulders as much as possible to the dead branches, 

 and breaking my way as gently as I could. At last 

 we reached the trees upon which the crows were 

 roosting ; but as the foliage of the young pines was 

 extremely dense, and the birds were full forty feet 

 above the ground, it was out of the question to dis- 

 tinguish where the greatest number were situated. 

 Selecting the trees which appeared by the greater 

 darkness of their summits to be most heavily laden 

 with our game, my companion and I pulled our 

 triggers at the same moment. The report was fol- 

 lowed by considerable outcries from the crows, by a 

 heavy shower of pine twigs and leaves upon which 

 the shot had taken effect, and a deafening roar, 

 caused by the sudden rising on the wing of the 

 alarmed sleepers. One crow at length fell near me, 

 which was wounded too badly to fly or retain his 

 perch, and as the flock had gone entirely off, with 

 this one crow did I return, rather crest-fallen, from 

 my grand nocturnal expedition. This crow, how- 

 ever, afforded me instructive employment and amuse- 

 ment, during the next day, in the dissection of its 

 nerves and organs of sense ; and I know not that I 

 ever derived more pleasure from any anatomical 

 examination, than I did from the dissection of its 

 internal ear. The extent and convolutions of its 

 semi-circular canals show how highly the sense of 

 hearing is perfected in these creatures; and those 

 who wish to be convinced of the truth of what we 

 have stated in relation to them, may still see this 

 identical crow skull in the Baltimore Museum, to 



