234 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



f erences in birds' songs, how much more quickly 

 can the birds themselves distinguish one an- 

 other's voices ! Watch a nestful of fledgelings 

 whose eyes are incapably of distinct sight, and 

 one of the first facts to be noted will be the sud- 

 den excitement of the young when the parent 

 bird, in returning, conies within a few rods of 

 the nest. The clamor of the young can be in- 

 stantly silenced by a note of alarm from the par- 

 ent, while no other sound in the neighborhood 

 will check their glad uproar. Among full-grown 

 birds, similar notes of warning are wonderfully 

 effective. Crows chortling together in the woods 

 will be quieted and called to wing by a single 

 hoarse " caw " from their sentinel. A flock of 

 blue jays, feeding in the oaks, will scatter like 

 leaves in the wind at hearing a cry of alarm from 

 one of their number. I never see or hear a crow 

 " caucus " without feeling sure that certain indi- 

 viduals have more weight in the assembly than 

 others, and that their cawing means something to 

 their fellows. Of course, these indications of the 

 appreciation of individuality by some birds in 

 dealing with their mates are vague and unsatis- 

 factory as compared with the more direct evi- 

 dence afforded by personally watching captive 

 birds until their characters are thoroughly 

 learned. 



Two great-horned owls which I owned for a 



