Crow - Ways. i o 



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ber. The crow's chief note is the hoarse haii.', Iiaio 

 with which everybody is familiar, and which seems 

 capable of expressing everything, from the soft chatter 

 of going to bed in the pine tops to the loud deri- 

 sion with which he detects all ordinary attempts to 

 surprise him. Certain crows, howe\"er, ha\-e unusual 

 vocal abilities, and at times they seem to use them 

 for the entertainment of the others. Yet I suspect 

 that these ^■ocal gifts are seldom used, or even discov- 

 ered, until lack of amusement throws them upon their 

 own resources. Certain it is that, whenever a crow 

 makes any unusual sounds, there are alwa}"S se\'eral 

 more about, liaiciiig \"igorousl\', ^"et seeming to listen 

 attentivelv. I have caught them at this a score of 

 times. 



One September afternoon, while walking quietly 

 through the woods, mv attention was attracted bv an 

 unusual sound coming from an oak gro\'e, a fa\"orite 

 haunt of gray squirrels. The crows were cawing in 

 the same direction ; but e^■er^• few minutes would 

 come a strange cracking sound — L-r-j'-rack-a-rack-j-ack, 

 as if some one had a giant nutcracker and were snap- 

 ping it rapidly. I stole forward through the low woods 

 till I could see perhaps iiftv crows perched about in 

 the oaks, all very attentive to something going on 

 below them that I could not see. 



Not till I had crawled up to the brush fence, on the 



