Cries of the Day and Night 



The crows have several other variations of 

 the same cry, expressive of other matters, which 

 all the tribe seem to understand clearly, but which 

 are meaningless to human ears. When I imitate 

 the distress-call of a young crow, for example, I 

 can bring a flock over my head at almost any 

 time, the only condition being that I keep well 

 concealed. At the first glimpse of a man in hiding 

 they sheer off, and it is seldom that I can bring 

 them back a second time to the same spot; yet 

 I have a companion, one who utters a call very 

 much like mine to ordinary ears, who can bring 

 the flock back to him even after they have seen 

 him and suffered at his hands. More than once 

 I have stood beside him in the woods and fired a 

 gun repeatedly, killing a crow and scattering the 

 flock pell-mell at every shot; but no sooner does 

 he begin to talk crow-talk than back they come 

 again. What he says to them that I do not or 

 cannot say is something that only the crows 

 understand. 



It is commonly assumed that they come to such 

 a call because they hear in it a cry for help from 

 one of their own kind. That is undoubtedly true 

 at times ; for a help-call, especially from a cub or 

 nestling, is a summons to which most animals and 

 birds instinctively respond. And, strangely enough, 

 the smaller they are the braver they seem to be. 



[21] 



