Cheered by Crows

"The crow when he sings is nothing short of a clown; he ruffles his feathers, stretches his neck, like a cat with a fish bone in her throat, and with a most tremendous effort delivers a series of hen-like squawks."

This quote, attributed simply to a "Mr. Mathews" in the Anna Comstock Handbook of Nature Study, elicited a chorus of giggles from my flock this afternoon, when we encountered it during an hour spent educating ourselves about crows. Beanie, the nine-year-old, especially enjoyed it...