A JOLLY OLD CROW 189 



for some other occasion for a general congre- 

 gation. Once, when the Naturalist was enjoy- 

 ing a stroll through a bit of woods several hun- 

 dred miles from his home, he remarked to 

 friends that he had not seen a crow in that 

 neighborhood. When assured that crows 

 were present in the locality, he at once gave 

 the alarm call and astonished his friends by 

 bringing together a goodly flock within a few 

 minutes. 



These experiments convinced the Naturalist 

 that the crow has a more highly developed 

 system of communication by means of vocal 

 notes, which more nearly approach spoken 

 language than any other native bird. He also 

 became convinced that by devoting sufficient 

 time to it one could come to understand the 

 meaning of the various notes, and possibly 

 interpret their communications. 



One spring the Naturalist could not resist 

 the temptation to take a young crow from the 

 nest before it could fly. It was fed freely with 

 bread and milk and such table scraps as it 

 would eat. The youngster soon became very 

 tame, and made himself at home among the 

 trees about the house. He made friends with 

 the bantam hen and with a skunk that lived 



