blackbirds, while far from meaning friendship, 

 means a great deal more indeed than polite so- 

 ciability, a drawing-room gathering. 



There seem to be such functions in birddom. 

 A very select and unspotted company of crows 

 in my neighborhood meet frequently throughout 

 late summer and in the autumn, for no other 

 reason, apparently, than the pleasure of one an- 

 other's society. They are as decorous as they 

 are select, usually, though not always. 



One day I will see them sitting about in the 

 top of a great solitary white oak beyond the 

 meadow and talking quietly. Gossip running 

 short, they adjourn to the meadow below for an 

 equally quiet feed along the little river. An- 

 other day I will hear them boisterously caw- 

 cawing in a very gale of good time. There is 

 fun awing. Somebody is " it." Suddenly into 

 the air they scatter, and up, in the tumbling, 

 whirling confusion of some game, all cawing at 

 the top of their lungs. I am not versed in crow 

 sports, but this looks and sounds very much like 

 the rough-and-tumble of a college foot-ball 

 contest. On yet another day the loud cawing 

 will be furious and angry. Anybody can tell 

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