CROW LIFE 



them all with interest. Hearing all the other birds singing 

 their love and seeing them winning favor with their brilliant 

 colors, does he envy them? 



On the theory of compensation, his sterling qualities 

 render accomplishments and decorative raiment mmecessary. 

 With no song in which to tell his story, and no garments gay 

 to captivate the eye, the crow must needs live his love — and 

 he does — ^to the end. Seriously he wins the mate to "whom he 

 remains true forever. To him the marital bond is not the 

 mere tie of a season, but one that holds through life. He as- 

 sists the dusky bride of his choice in establishing a com- 

 modious home in the most commanding situations available 

 — the top of the tallest tree in the edge of the wood, and 

 which may have been planted by one of his ancestors. He 

 assists her in giving warmth to their eggs in the nest. He 

 carries food to her while she broods over them. He braves 

 every danger in protecting both her and them against preda- 

 tory hawks and owls and frolicking squirrels, to whom he is 

 known as the "warrior crow." With tenderest solicitude, he 

 relieves his mate as far as he can in ministering to their nest- 

 lings. 



And what of the yoimg crows in the nest? When their 

 elders are away on commissary tours, the little ones, bewail- 

 ing the absence of parents almost constantly, are always 

 found on the return in attitudes of expectancy. To them the 

 approach of older crows, even though it be from the left, is 

 never ominous of anything but good. And when after many 

 excursions babj'- appetites have been satisfied, in their lofty 

 cradles in the treetops, the infant crows are rocked by the 

 breezes, and though the tuneless throats of the parents 3rield 

 no songs they are not without music, for soft, eeolian lullabies 

 soothe them to sleep. 



177 



