28 



OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



nity without strutting, and shrewdness without 

 sneaking. I have no hesitation in calling him 

 the most intelligent bird I know. Few are the 

 planters whose strategy he cannot outwit; few 

 the hunters who can slip upon him. But though 

 he has all the destructive and mischievous habits 

 of the Blue jay, except that he does not attack 

 smaller birds, and though he is in addition an 



accomplished corn - thief, 

 we, all of us, retain a cer- 

 tain respect and something 

 like admiration for Jim 

 Crow. 



Crows of one kind and 

 another are well distrib- 

 uted over the world; they 

 survive in great numbers 

 the Eussian winters and 

 the famines of India. This 

 proves them to be a type of 

 special fitness, highly successful in nature's com- 

 petitive economical scheme. Their success in 

 thriving where others fail is due not only to indi- 

 vidual intelligence, but to their close co-operation 

 with each other. Every member of a flock is able 

 to communicate with and to aid every other mem- 

 ber. If you try to slip up on them unawares you 

 will see how quickly the first that spies you gives 

 the alarm; and if you do not believe that Crows 



CROW 



Length 19 inches 



