WAYS OF NATURE 
the usual high-keyed note of alarm. It may have 
meant “ Look out!” yet it seemed to me like the ask- 
ing of alms: “Here we are, three hungry neighbors 
of yours; give us food.” So I brought out the en- 
trails and legs of a chicken, and placed them upon 
the snow. The crows very soon discovered what I 
had done, and with the usual suspicious movement 
of the closed wings which has the effect of emphasiz- 
ing the birds’ alertness, approached and devoured the 
food or carried it away. But there was not the least 
strife or dispute among them over the food. Indeed, 
each seemed ready to give precedence to the others. 
In fact, the crow is a courtly, fine-mannered bird. 
Birds of prey will rend one another over their food; 
even buzzards will make some show of mauling one 
another with their wings; but I have yet to see any- 
thing of the kind with that gentle freebooter, the 
crow. Yet suspicion is his dominant trait. Anything 
that looks like design puts him on his guard. The 
simplest device in a cornfield usually suffices to 
keep him away. He suspects a trap. His wit is not 
deep, but it is quick, and ever on the alert. 
One of our natural history romancers makes the 
crows flock in June. But the truth is, they do not 
flock till September. Through the summer the dif- 
ferent families keep pretty well together. You may 
see the old ones with their young foraging about 
the fields, the young often being fed by their par- 
ents. 
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