i50 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



swarming dark hosts the crow " traditions " and " folk-lore " are 

 lectured on with much emphasis b}' the dark-hued " sachems " of 

 the fraternity for the instruction of the "parvenus" of the sea- 

 son's hatching. The conclave seems to the human spectator a 

 Babel of irreconcilable argument or denunciation. The "wise, 

 acres" of the clan seem to be enunciating the traditional polity 

 with threatening gesticulations toward the stupid juveniles or 

 " kickers " — the irreconcilables, while utterances among the " pros 

 and cons " seem at times to be blasphemous in energy and tone, 

 and a " reign of terror " seems imminent. But after an hour or 

 two of these angry cawings the turmoil abates and a few take the 

 initiative and depart as if the "Resolutions" were carried by a 

 potential majority and the crowd disperses, screaming across the 

 landscape until all are absorbed in the headlong current sweeping 

 away from horizon to horizon in quest of " fresh fields and pas- 

 tures new." 



It is averred by persons who have had experience with pet 

 crows that if individuals of the latter kind ever attempt to return 

 to the wild freebooting corvine life, and seek to regain equal status, 

 the aliens are treated with deadly hostility and ignominiously 

 " drummed out " or killed by the legitimists, who abhor the ideas 

 of members of their kind who may have become infected with what 

 seem to be regarded as unorthodox practices. Similarly if one of 

 a young brood of " porcines " becomes from any accidental cause 

 separated from the rest of the brood or family circle, though only 

 for 24 hours or so, its return to the teat is fiercely resisted by 

 the mother and killed by her if the reinstating attempt is per- 

 sisted in. 



