NATURE AND HER HARMONIES. 21 



almost brushed, with his wing, the delicious breakfast as he 

 went by, darted upward more swiftly than he descended, and 

 flew off to his own woods, squalling defiance to his indefati- 

 gable enemy as he went. 



I never saw that crow again, that I know of. He never 

 came back, and the best proof of it was, that the liver still 

 lay on the fence corner, where it had been placed, until the 

 winter broke. 



I can conceive no other solution to this curious incident, 

 than that our friend with the black coat was willing to meet 

 myself, or any other puissant champion, in fair field and on 

 fair terms, for a taste of those esculent morsels which were 

 so necessary to him during the winter, and though not particu- 

 larly partial to gunpowder, his experience had rendered him 

 sufficiently confident to be willing to run the risks when 

 he knew my hiding-place. 



While he knew what to fear, he knew how to deport him- 

 self accordingly ; but when it came to treachery to all the 

 laws of war ; a change of the place, a well-disguised snow- 

 trap buried in the white, unsuspected bosom of old Mother 

 Earth, the thing was horrible ! It frightened him out of his 

 propriety ! Paugh ! or rather, caw ! such a traitor ! It was 

 indecent, it was savage, it was unmannerly ! Caw ! caw I 



But what is all this shrewdness to be called ? a mere blind 

 Instinct ? or has it some processes apparent, closely resem- 

 bling those of Eeason ? Is it a pair of sharp eyes and keen 

 nostrils, guiding the safety of a mere machine with black 

 feathers and black wings through the air ? Has it passions, 

 affections, power of adaptation, hope, memory, &c. ? These 

 are interesting questions. 



This is, no doubt, "prattling out of fashion" sure enough 

 but what of it ? The Good Book sayeth out of the mouths 

 of babes and sucklings ye shall rebuke them, and the above 

 phrase precisely expresses that peculiar and excited vernacular 

 which belongs equally to children and philosophers, as con- 

 trasted with the dull lasping see-saw of common place. Take 



