180 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



have long been familiar with an observing man 

 who has lived all his days within sight and hear- 

 ing of crows. He claims to understand their 

 language, and can repeat the "words" that 

 make up their vocabulary. Certainly crows 

 seem to talk ; but do they ? Does a certain 

 sound made by them have always the one sig- 

 nificance ? Year after year I have listened and 

 watched, watched and listened, and wondered 

 if my friend was right. He believes it. I be- 

 lieve it almost. Are there limitations to orni- 

 thological interpretation? And is this an in- 

 stance where truth is unattainable ? We know 

 that crows are cunning, and by their mother wit 

 have withstood the persecutions of mankind ; 

 we know that they have a wide range of utter- 

 ances, and not one is put forth merely to gratify 

 the ear, as in the case of a thrush's song ; yet 

 we hesitate to say plainly that crow talketh 

 unto crow and that they take counsel together. 

 There is no physical or metaphysical reason 

 why this should not be the case ; there is 

 abundant evidence pointing in that direction, 

 but no actual demonstration, satisfying every 

 one, has taken place. Were we less theory- 



