Silverspot 



was edged with houses and spanned by bridges, 

 became a very familiar acquaintance. Twice 

 each day in March and part of April, then again 

 in the late summer and the fall, he passed and 

 repassed, and gave me chances to see his move- 

 ments, and hear his orders to his bands, and 

 so, little by little, opened my eyes to the fact 

 that the crows, though a little people, are of 

 great wit, a race of birds with a language and 

 a social system that is wonderfully human in 

 many of its chief points, and in some is better 

 carried out than our own. 



One windy day I stood on the high bridge 

 across the ravine, as the old crow, heading his 

 long, straggling troop, came flying down home- 

 ward. Half a mile away I could hear the con- 

 tented 'Al/'s well, come right alo?ig! y as we 



No. i. 



m 



$ 



. 8 



Caw Caw 



should say, or as he put it, and as also his lieu- 

 tenant echoed it at the rear of the band. They 

 were flying very low to be out of the wind, and 



65 



