io6 JVays of Wood Folk. 



frequently for a little excitement. Once I utilized the 

 habit for getting a good look at the crows themselves. 

 I carried out an old stuffed owl, and set it up on a 

 pole close against a great pine tree on the edge of a 

 grove. Then I lay down in a thick clump of bushes 

 near by and cawed excitedly. The first messenger 

 from the flock flew straight over without making any 

 discoveries. The second one found the owl, and I had 

 no need for further calling. Haw ! haw ! he cried 

 deep down in his throat — here lie is ! here ' s the rascal ! 

 In a moment he had the whole flock there ; and for 

 nearly ten minutes they kept coming in from every 

 direction. A more frenzied lot I never saw. The 

 hawing was tremendous, and I hoped to settle at last 

 the real cause and outcome of the excitement, when 

 an old crow flying close over my hiding place caught 

 sisrht of me lookins: out throusrh the bushes. How 

 he made himself heard or understood in the din I do 

 not know ; but the crow is never too excited to heed 

 a danger note. The next moment the whole flock 

 were streaming away across the woods, giving the 

 scatter-cry at every flap. 



There is another way in which the crows' love of 

 variety is manifest, though in a much more dignified 

 way. Occasionally a flock may be surprised sitting 

 about in the trees, deeply absorbed in watching a per- 

 formance — generally operatic — by one of their num- 



