EYE-BEAMS 123 



all sides. Then he took a long walk down alx)ut 

 the vineyard as if in hope of hitting upon 

 some clue. Then he came to the tree again, 

 and tried first one eye, then the other, upon 

 it ; then to the ground beneath ; then he went 

 away and came back; then his fellow came 

 and they both squinted and investigated and 

 then disappeared. Chickadees and woodpeckers 

 would alight upon the meat and peck it swing- 

 ing in the wind, but the crows Avere fearful. 

 Does this show reflection? Perhaps it does, 

 but I look upon it rather as that instinct of 

 fear and cunning so characteristic of the crow. 

 Two days passed thus: every morning the 

 crows came and surveyed the suspended meat 

 from all points in the tree, and then went 

 away. The third day, I placed a large bone 

 on the snow beneath the suspended morsel. 

 Presently one of the crows appeared in the 

 tree, and bent his eye upon the tempting bone. 

 "The mystery deepens," he seemed to say to 

 himself. But after half an hour's investiga- 

 tion, and after approaching several times within 

 a few feet of the food upon the ground, he 

 seemed to conclude there was no connection 

 between it and the piece hanging by the string. 

 So he finally walked up to it and fell to peck- 

 ing it, flipping his wings all the time, as a sign 

 of his watchfulness. He also turned up his 

 eye, momentarily, to the piece in the air above, 

 as if it might be some disguised sword of 

 Damocles, ready to fall upon him. Soon his 

 mate came and alighted on a low branch of the 



