CROWS BY MOONLIGHT
Moonrise last month, at the time of the full moon, hardly gave darkness time to settle, and there was a brighter sky in the hours of night than there had been some afternoons. One thing. in particular, that I noticed was the activity of crows in the late even- ing. Going out to post a letter at full moon I heard a crow cawing as it passed overhead. This was fol- lowed by the call of another and then another. The crows were actually talking and visiting by moonlight, while rooks in the • rookery were busy conversing among themselves. Perhaps the owls were dis- couraged by the brilliant light, for I didn't hear them. Later on, the inevitable cockerel chorus began, It takes only a chink of ,light in a henhouse to set it off and, of course, headroom to allow a cock to crow, for he cannot give voice ignominiously perched with his head against the roof. The crows and rooks, I think, had been far too active by day to stay awake long, During the night a breeze made the bedroom window rattle and I got up to close it. The cocks were still crowing, but in the intervals there was-no sound from the crow tribe. They had settled to roost at last, in spite of the high-sailing moon.
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