FIELD BIRDS 99 



guess you. If the would-be crow-killer should be 

 about to get within range of some inexperienced or 

 unsuspecting bird, he is almost always warned of 

 danger by his companions. 



It is to this good fellowship, and to their loyalty 

 to one another, that Crows owe their comparative 

 safety from attack by man. 



Whether, as has been stated, they post sentinels 

 when raiding a corn-field, I do not know, but that 

 they have a note of alarm which is understood by 

 all other Crows is beyond question. The note of a 

 telegraphic instrument is all on one key, but there 

 is no limit to its power of expression. So, while we 

 think of the Crow's language as containing the one 

 word "caw" he, nevertheless, can convey a surprising 

 number of meanings with this syllable. There are 

 long caws and short caws, rolling caws and rasping 

 caws ; phrases of two caws and phrases of four caws, 

 and all apparently stand for different things. When 

 the Crow hears an Owl, for example, he utters three 

 short caws, which is apparently a rally call, and soon 

 a dozen Crows are flying about overhead where but 

 one was before. The discovery of danger is an- 

 nounced by a series of hurried caws and, without 

 stopping to ask questions, every Crow within hear- 

 ing takes to his wings. 



It man could not talk he would be but little higher 



