BIRD PARADISE 197 



brought them, almost to a crow, into the old 

 places. I cannot conceive of any advantages 

 which the weather just now extends to them, I 

 don't know that the weather really enters into 

 the problem they have to solve very much. So 

 far as I can see they go to and fro pretty much 

 oblivious to everything else but something to eat. 

 I see them going to their night's rest among the 

 hemlocks in the old Addington woods — mercury 

 dropping far below zero during the night. Prom 

 every point of view that man commands the bed- 

 chamber of the crow on such a night is about as 

 cheerless as one can imagine. I have heard them 

 from the old farm giving expression to some of 

 their feelings and while the utterance was not 

 particularly cheering, it had very little in it that 

 one would regard as a protest against any of the 

 surroundings. Once, I remember, the entire flock 

 came rushing out of their bedchamber in the mid- 

 dle of the night and after circling around for a 

 time went off to a new place of rest on Frankfort 

 Hill. We saw nothing of the cause of the dis- 

 turbance, but conjectured that some prowling 

 owl dropped in upon them, levying tribute for an 

 early breakfast. The crow, I fancy, is not the 

 custodian of a great deal of courage, at least he 

 rarely uses the article even if he possesses it. 



