Old White Wing 273 



kinds, and men with guns he had often warned the 

 different members of the band against , and so no won- 

 der they thrived and increased under the leadership 

 of this king among crows. The superstitious believed 

 that he bore a charmed life, and many were the sto- 

 ries told of his wonderful intelligence and his narrow 

 escapes. 



Any one who has been fortunate enough to become 

 acquainted with our wild, feathered friends must 

 have noticed that there are natural leaders, especially 

 among the gregarious kinds. Old White Wing had 

 long been leader of this small but wary band of crows 

 which passed the winter months in the hemlocks, 

 separated in pairs during the nesting season in sum- 

 mer, and reassembled again in autumn. 



The nesting place of Old White Wing had long 

 been a mystery to the farmer boys, for, search as they 

 might, not one had been able to locate it. Every 

 lad in the Hollow knew the nesting habits of the 

 turkey, the bobolink, and the meadow lark does a 

 crow know even more than these birds? The boys 

 were especially anxious, too, to find this nest, for 

 there was a bounty upon the head of Old White 

 Wing the penalty which wild animals must suffer for 

 being able to care for themselves, and it was be- 

 lieved that if his summer home could be discovered, 



