THE SINGERS 75 



figure as lover. If his song is not quite so monstrous 

 as the screeching, snoring barn owls, it is, to our ears, 

 ludicrously unsuited to courtship and gallantries. The 

 crow's voice is like the voice of something that has 

 never known youth dismal, harsh, croaking. There 

 are times when the voice is not without a certain 

 fascination. It well suits the great blackening woods 

 on a winter evening, when crow is calling to crow ; 

 then it has a warning note, grave and aloof, that goes 

 well with the scene. But the carrion crow in the 

 bright sunshine of a March morning indulging in 

 a musical solo a carrion crow in the melting mood 

 is wholly grotesque. The thing is not unusual. I 

 have watched these crow idylls in London in March. 1 

 The bird will perch on a tree all by itself, and for 

 ten minutes or more call to a mate that does not 

 necessarily appear. Apparently it little affects the 

 performer whether the hen bird comes on the scene or 

 not. He carrs his harshest, several "carrs" in quick 

 succession " carr, carr, carr, carr " ; only in each note 

 the letter "r" is dwelt on more than here repre- 

 sented it is vibrated. Then a pause of half a minute, 

 then four more " carrs." Each " carr " is accompanied 

 by body action; he thrusts forward his body; he 

 draws out his neck to its utmost length ; he solemnly 

 bows. This bowing in season of courtship and passion 

 is not peculiar to crows. It is very common among 



1 The carrion crow is a London bird, but I have only once seen a 

 hooded crow there. 



