212 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



raven," I have caught myself saying ^ — rose 

 from the scrub not far in advance, with the invari- 

 able hoarse chorus of quark, quark. I thought 

 nothing of it, the sight being so much an every- 

 day matter, tiU after a little I began to be aware 

 that the whole flock seemed to be concentrating 

 its attention upon my unsuspecting, inoffensive 

 self. There must have been fifty of the big black 

 birds. Round and round they went in circles, 

 just above my head, moving forward as I moved, 

 vociferating every one as he came near, " quark, 

 quark." 



At first I was amused ; it was something new 

 and interesting. I recalled the time when I 

 walked miles on miles over the North Carolina 

 mountains in hope of seeing one raven, and here 

 were half a hundred almost within hand's reach ; 

 I chaffed them as they passed, calling them names 

 and quarking back to them in derision. But be- 

 fore very long the novelty of the thing wore off ; 

 the persecution grew tiresome. Enough is as 

 good as a feast ; and I had had enough. " Quark, 

 quark," they yelled, aU the while settling nearer, 

 — or so I fancied, — till it seemed as if they 



^ There is another raven in Arizona, rarer and iai^er, — a 

 real raven, so to speak, — but I saw it only a few times, al- 

 ways high in air, as if it were passing from one mountain 

 range to another. 



