Music of the Wild 



nest at a height of less than thirty-five feet, and 

 from that up to fifty. At that distance it is not 

 possible that male and female or different pairs 

 can be told apart without strong glasses; where 

 there is one family there are sure to be others close, 

 and no matter how impudent a single crow may 

 be when you are without a gun and meet him for- 

 aging in 'your fields, he is a wary bird when you 

 approach his nest. 



In captivity crows have been known to do many 

 peculiar things of their own initiative, such as hid- 

 "Blackas ing food given them when they are not hungry, for 

 a Crow" U se at another time, or rubbing against a stone a 

 caterpillar to free it from spines. They can be 

 taught to talk by splitting the tips of their tongues, 

 and can repeat from two to six words distinctly and 

 at appropriate times. In life they never are quite 

 so black as they are painted, for the neck and back 

 feathers have beautiful purplish bronze tints in 

 strong light. These crows appeared to have a 

 sense of humor, for when we left the forest with- 

 out having interfered with them they seemed to 

 imagine they had vanquished us and followed for 

 a distance, crying something that sounded much 

 more like, "Haw! Haw! Haw!" than "Caw!" 



I never have made an exhaustive study of 



crows, but I have penetrated their life history 



somewhat, enough to get all that can be learned by 



seeing and hearing; and that, come to think of it, 



52 



