THE OTTAWA f(ATURALIST>% 



Vol. XX. OTTAWA, JUNE, 1906. No. 3 



A SAGACIOUS CROW. 



By Asa A. Gallup. 



Every student of nature has observed in animal life acts that 

 showed wonderful sagacity ; but this faculty is more often noticed 

 in mammals than birds, probably owing to the number of domes- 

 ticated animals about us, and in birds it may be considered a rarer 

 quality. It must have appeared, however, to anyone who has 

 watched crows congregating and heard the many noises they make 

 that the strange calls and harsh sounds were crow language, 

 and that they had a large vocabulary. The actions of the common 

 American Crow which I relate here were observed this year, and, 

 at least, show remarkable sagacity. 



In the latter part of April two crows began housekeeping on 

 Parliament Hill, and built their home about twenty feet from the 

 ground in a cedar tree half way between the brow of the hill and 

 the river. By the third week in May five little crows occupied the 

 home, and at any part of the day five red-lined mouths could be 

 seen wide open to receive whatever food the parents might bring. 

 The mother was always on guard, and at the slightest noise would 

 sit on the nest and cover the young ; but the father apparently 

 spent most of his time during the day away from home. On one 

 of these occasions I happened to be standing on the walk, which 

 runs around the side of the hill, a short distance from the nest, ob- 

 serving some warblers, when I saw the crow alight on a large rock 

 about twenty yards belovv me. He seemed to have his eyes fixed 

 on some object on the ground farther down the hill, for notwith- 

 standing the repeated attacks of two grackles he held his position. 

 On the departure of his tormentors he shuffled down off the rock 

 and over to the object he had been watching, which was lying 

 among the stones, and began pecking it. After several hard 



