WAYS OF NATURE 



to teach the youngsters how to fly. This they did 

 by circHng about the pasture, giving a peculiar call 

 while they were followed by their flock — all but 

 one. This was a bobtailed crow, and he did not 

 obey the word of command. His mother took note 

 of his disobedience and proceeded to discipline him. 

 He stood upon a big stone, and she came down upon 

 him and knocked him off his perch. " He squawked 

 and fluttered his wings to keep from falling, but the 

 blow came so suddenly that he had not time to save 

 himself, and he fell flat on the ground. In a minute 

 he clambered back upon his stone, and I watched 

 him closely. The next time the call came to fly he 

 did not linger, but went with the rest, and so long 

 as I could watch him he never disobeyed again." 

 I should interpret tliis fact of the old and young 

 crows flying about a field in summer quite differ- 

 ently. The young are fully fledged, and are already 

 strong flyers, when this occurs. They do not leave 

 the nest until they can fly well and need no tutor- 

 ing. What the writer really saw was what any one 

 may see on the farm in June and July: she saw 

 the parent crows foraging with their young in a field. 

 The old birds flew about, followed by their brood, 

 clamorous for the food which their parents found. 

 The bobtailed bird, which had probably met with 

 some accident, did not follow, and the mother re- 

 turned to feed it; the young crow lifted its wings 

 and flapped them, and in its eagerness probably 

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