SPRING DAWN 



individual rooms after nightfall. They 

 were scattered all through the pasture 

 and woodland but no two were within 

 twenty rods of one another. 



Their minds have not yet turned to 

 nest-building and mating, though the time 

 is near, for they still flock in hilarious 

 good-fellowship at sunrise, and you may 

 hear them whooping and hurrahing about 

 in crowds all day long. They may be 

 beginning to " take notice " ; I suspect 

 some of the hilarity is over that. But 

 they have not come to the pairing-off 

 stage. When they reach that the flocks 

 will disappear and you would hardly 

 think there was a crow left in the whole 

 wood. You might by stepping softly sur- 

 prise a pair of them inspecting a likely 

 pine in the pasture, planning for the nest. 

 You might, by listening in secluded places, 



hear the "curious, low-toned, prolonged 

 29 



