296 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



morning, hears the strident "caw-caw-caw" 

 of the marauding band. Their destination 

 is usually the banks of a river, perhaps even 

 twenty miles away "as the crow flies," and 

 there they pass the day. Feeding along the 

 edge of the water, they pick up river snails 

 and garbage, carrion, or indeed anything 

 approaching edibility that happens to turn 

 up. Sometimes one will hover like a gull 

 and pick up scraps, or even a fish from the 

 water. When the stream is covered with 

 loose blocks of ice, the flock takes to these 

 and gathers from the river all sorts of float- 

 ing food. But when nightfall comes, they 

 return in noisy procession to their distant 

 mountain home. 



Meanwhile amongst the limbs of the trees 

 in which the crows have had their winter 

 lodging I find the evidences of a less suc- 

 cessful battle against the biting frost. 



THE PAPER WASP'S NEST 



A wasp queen, like the queen of the bum- 

 blebees, is queen by divine right. . She is 

 not elected to the throne, she does not in- 



