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warn them, as well as his own kind, at the 

 approach of danger. When birds nest, or 

 foxes den, or beasts fight in the woods, he is 

 there to see it. When other things fail, he 

 t^row- ays ^-^ even play jokes, as upon one occasion 

 when I saw a young crow hide in a hole in a 

 pine tree, and for two hours keep a whole 

 flock in a frenzy of excitement by his dis- 

 tressed cawing. He would venture out 

 when they were at a distance, peek all about 

 cautiously to see that no one saw him, then 

 set up a heart-rending appeal, only to dodge 

 back out of sight when the flock came rush- 

 ing in with a clamor that was deafening. 



Only one of two explanations can account 

 for his action in this case ; either he was 

 a young crow who did not appreciate the 

 gravity of crying Wolf ! wolf ! when there 

 was no wolf, or else it was a plain game of 

 hide-and-seek. When the crows at length 

 found him they chased him out of sight, 

 either to chastise him, or, as I am inclined 

 now to think, each one sought to catch 

 him for the privilege of being the next to 

 hide. 



