10 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



must be to the poor worm when they suddenly tip 

 forward, give a few rapid hops, and diving into 

 the grass drag him out of his retreat. Though 

 they run from a chicken, robins will chase chip- 

 munks and fight with red squirrels in defense of 

 their nests or young. 



IL 



THE CROW. 



THE despised crow is one of our most interest- 

 ing birds. His call is like the smell of the brown 

 furrows in spring life is more sound and whole- 

 some for it. Though the crow has no song, what 

 a variety of notes and tones he can boast! In 

 vocabulary, he is a very Shakespeare among birds. 

 Listening to a family of Frenchmen, though you 

 do not know a word of French, you easily guess 

 the temper and drift of their talk, and so it is in 

 listening to crows tone, inflection, gesture, all 

 betray their secrets. One morning last October 

 I caught, in this way, a spicy chapter in crow fam- 

 ily discipline. 



I was standing in a meadow of rich aftermath 

 lying between a stony pasture and a small piece 

 of woods, when a young crow flew over my head, 

 cawing softly to himself. He flew straight west 

 toward the pasture for several seconds, and then, 

 as if an idea had come to him, turned his head 



