The Western Crow 



to find a dozen or a score in a certain section of woodland, is the rule 

 rather than the exception. Caution reigns here as at other times, and 

 nest-building operations are suspended for the nonce if the Crows suspect 

 the presence of a hated human. There is a way, however, by which an 

 adroit observer may learn the Corvine secret, no matter how carefully 

 hidden the domicile may be. In the honeymoon days attendant upon 

 deposition, the amorous crow will call her mate to the nest-side from 

 time to time by giving the hunger cry, anh annh, — identical in quality, 

 apparently, with the sounds which will issue clamorously from the nest 

 five or six weeks later. It is the coaxing, irresistible call of the eternal 

 feminine, and the black swain will yield to its solicitations, even though 

 it be against his better judgment. Alas, how many a poor wight has 

 been trapped through his affections! The secret is out, Mr. Crow! 



Fresh eggs may, therefore, be found by the second or third week in 

 April. Incubation lasts from fourteen to eighteen days; and the young, 

 commonly four or five in number, are born naked and blind. It is when 

 the Crow children are hatched that Nature begins to groan. It is then 

 that birds' eggs are quoted by the crate, and beetles by the hecatomb 

 are sacrificed daily in a vain effort to satisfy 

 the Gargantuan appetites of these young 

 ebons. I once had the misfortune to pitch 

 camp in a grove of willows which contained a 

 nestful of Crows. The old birds never forgave 

 me, but upbraided me in bitter language from v 



early morn till dewy eve. The young- 

 sters also suffered somewhat, I fear, for as 

 often as a parent bird approached, cawing 

 in a curiously muffled voice, choked with 

 food, and detected me outside the tent, it 



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HOMEWARD BOUND 

 Photo by the Author 



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