Crow - Ways. Ill 



bounded on three sides by pine woods, and on the 

 fourth by half wild fields that straggled away to the 

 dusty road beyond. Once, long ago, there was a 

 farm there ; but even the cellars have disappeared, 

 and the crows no longer fear the place. 



It was an easy task to creep unobserved through 

 the nearest pine grove, and gain a safe hiding place 

 under some junipers on the edge of the old pasture. 

 The cawing meanwhile was intermittent ; at times it 

 broke out in a perfect babel, as if e\'ery crow were 

 doino^ his best to outcaw all the others ; atjain there 

 was silence save for an occasional short note, the 

 all V well of the sentinel on guard. The crows are 

 never so busy or so interested that they neglect this 

 precaution. 



When I reached the junipers, the crows — half a 

 hundred of them — were ranged in the pine tops 

 along one edge of the open. They were cjuiet enough, 

 save for an occasional scramble for position, evidently 

 waiting for something to happen. Down on my 

 right, on the fourth or open side of the pasture, a 

 solitary old crow was perched in the top of a tall 

 hickory. I might have taken him for a sentry but 

 for a bright object which he held in his beak. It 

 was too far to make out what the object was ; but 

 whenever he turned his head it flashed in the sun- 

 light like a bit of glass. 



