WILDWOOD WAYS 



them the chorus of jeers knew no bounds. 

 It was as unmistakable as the caressing 

 tone, this jeering laughter. You had but 

 to hear it to know very well what they 

 were saying. The crow language has 

 but one word, which in type is caw. But 

 their inflections and tone qualities are 

 such that it is easy" to make it express 

 the whole diatonic scale of primitive 

 emotion. 



Many of our summer birds whose 

 winter range barely includes us seem to 

 be more than usually prevalent this win- 

 ter. It may be that the mild season has 

 to do with this, but it is equally probable 

 that a plenitude of food is more directly 

 responsible. Seed-eating birds are par- 

 ticularly in luck this year. I do not 

 know of a winter when the birch trees 

 have fruited so plentifully, nor have I 

 noticed so many flocks of song sparrows 



IT2 



