NATI7KE AND HER HARMONIES. 
21 
almost brushed, wifh. his wing, tlie delicious breakfast as he 
went by, darted upward more swiftly than he descended, and 
flew off to his own woods, squalling defiance to his indefati- 
gable enemy as he went. 
I never saw that crow again, that I know of. He never 
came back, and the best proof of it was, that the liver still 
lay on the fence corner, where it had been placed, until the 
winter broke. 
I can conceive no other solution to this curious incident, 
than that our friend with the black coat was willing to meet 
myself, or any other puissant champion, in fair field and on 
fair terms, for a taste of those esculent morsels which were 
so necessary to him during the winter, and though not particu- 
larly partial to gunpowder, his experience had rendered him 
sufiiciently confident to be willing to run the risks — when 
he knew my hiding-place. 
While he knew what to fear, he knew how to deport him- 
self accordingly ; but when it came to treachery to all the 
laws of war; a change of the place, a well-disguised snow- 
trap buried in the white, unsuspected bosom of old Mother 
Earth, the thing was horrible ! It frightened him out of his 
propriety ! Paugh ! or rather, caw ! such a traitor ! It was 
indecent, it was savage, it was unmannerly ! Caw ! caw I 
But what is all this shrewdness to be called ? a mere blind 
Instinct ? or has it some processes apparent, closely resem- 
bling those of Eeason ? Is it a pair of sharp eyes and keen 
nostrils, guiding the safety of a mere machine with black 
feathers and black wings through the air ? Has it passions, 
affections, power of adaptation, hope, memory, &c. ? These 
are interesting questions. 
This is, no doubt, "prattling out of fashion" sure enough 
— ^but what of it ? The Good Book sayeth out of the mouths 
of babes and sucklings ye shall rebuke them, and the above 
phrase precisely expresses that peculiar and excited vernacular 
which belongs equally to children and philosophers, as con- 
trasted with the dull lasping see-saw of common place. Take 
