Occasionally a flock may be
surprised sitting about in the trees, deeply absorbed in watching a
performance--generally operatic--by one of their number. The crow's
chief note is the hoarse _haw, haw_ with which everybody is familiar,
and which seems capable of expressing everything, from the soft
chatter of going to bed in the pine tops to the loud derision with
which he detects all ordinary attempts to surprise him. Certain crows,
however, have unusual vocal abilities, and at times they seem to use
them for the entertainment of the others. Yet I suspect that these
vocal gifts are seldom used, or even discovered, until lack of
amusement throws them upon their own resources. Certain it is that,
whenever a crow makes any unusual sounds, there are always several
more about, _hawing_ vigorously, yet seeming to listen attentively. I
have caught them at this a score of times.
One September afternoon, while walking quietly through the woods, my
attention was attracted by an unusual sound coming from an oak grove,
a favorite haunt of gray squirrels. The crows were cawing in the same
direction; but every few minutes would come a strange cracking
sound--_c-r-r-rack-a-rack-rack_, as if some one had a giant nutcracker
and were snapping it rapidly. I stole forward through the low woods
till I could see perhaps fifty crows perched about in the oaks, all
very attentive to something going on below them that I could not see.
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