WAYS OF NATURE 
rate, it has this effect, and they come hurrying from 
all points. 
What their various calls mean, who shall tell ? 
That lusty caw-aw, caw-aw that one hears in spring 
and summer, like the voice of authority or com- 
mand, what does it mean? I never could find out. 
It is doubtless from the male. A crow will utter it 
while sitting alone on the fence in the pasture, as 
well as when flying through the air. The crow’s cry 
of alarm is easily distinguished; all the other birds 
and wild creatures know it, and the hunter who is 
stalking his game is apt to swear when he hears it. 
I have heard two crows in the spring, seated on 
a limb close together, give utterance to many curi- 
ous, guttural, gurgling, ventriloquial sounds. What 
were they saying? It was probably some form of 
the language of love. 
I venture to say that no one has ever yet heard 
the crow utter a complaining or a disconsolate note. 
He is always cheery, he is always self-possessed, he 
is a great success. Nothing in Bermuda made me 
feel so much at home as a flock of half a dozen of 
our crows which I saw and heard there. At one time 
they were very numerous on the island, but they 
have been persecuted till only a remnant of the 
tribe remains. 
I 
My friend and neighbor through the year, 
Self-appointed overseer 
268 
