The Feud of the Crows and the Owl 



Bv FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



With plK>toKraphs by tlic- aulliur 



N( ) one who i> familiar wilh both llu- Crow and the Barred Owl will doubt 

 for a moment the existence of a long-standing feud between these two 

 birds. Just why the Crow should cherish so intense an animosity against 

 the Owl I have never been able to understand, but certain it is that if. when 

 within hearing of Crows, I give utterance to the Wlioo-wJum-n'hoo, too-iclioojoo- 

 li'hoo-ah, there is invariably a response. Whatever this call may mean to the 

 Owl, to the Crows it is evidently a challenge to lombat, and before its echoes 

 have (lied awav one hears the sharj) anv-caic, which is unmistakably a rally-call 

 of the bird in black, and is immediately repeated by every bird that hears it. 



A single utterance of the Owl's note is often sufficient to arouse the Crows, 

 and in a surprisingly >hort time one has a tlirong of eager, inquisitive cawing 

 birds overhead, which have located the supposed Owl with unerring certainty. 



On many occasions, even at mid-day, my imitation of the Owl's call has 

 brought an Owl fn m retirement with most disastrous results. Although these 

 birds can see far better in bright light than is generally supposed, they are no 

 match for the keen .-r-eyed, more agile Crows, and my attempts to deceive the 

 Crows has, I am sorr\- to say, placed more tlian one ( )wl in an exceedingly unpleas- 

 ant position as he has found himself surnuindeil on all sides by a black-coaled 

 mob. 



Some years ago I decided to take advantage of this universal hatred of Owls, 

 in order to secure photograi)hs of Crows, which are usually s;) wary that they 

 prove difficult game for the bird photograi)her. I therefore borrowed from the 

 American Museum of Natural Histor\-, a mounted Barred Owl and placed it 

 within twenty feet of a hollow chestnut tree. 'V\\\> tree, an old landmark, was a 

 mere shell some twenty-five feet in circumference wilh a hollow nearly eight 

 feet in diameter. On seveia! occasion^ 1 have used It a-^ a cam]) in which lo pass 

 the night, and long before I ihoughl of employing the ( aniera in the >uidy of 

 birds, it had served admirabb' as a natural blind from the concealment of which 

 birds might readily be observed. 



The lens of my camera was |)ointe(l through a knot-hole, favorably situated on 

 the >ide of the tree facing the mounted Owl, and, after having made all necessary 

 arrangements as to fo( us, etc .. I placed my mouth at another knot-hole and gave 

 utterance to the call of the liarred ( )wl. Within a moment or two the expected 

 res|)onsc came from a neighboring wood, and \er\ shortly the usual throng ot 

 Crows had gathered at the part of the \voo(l> nearest to the tree in which I was 

 concealed. From this i)oint, however, the birds hesitated to make an advance 

 into the open, either because their sus])ici()ns were anniscd, or because' they were 

 not accustomed to lind ( )wls so far from dense cover. I"or s:)me time, thcrefoi'c. 

 they circled oxcrhea 1 in winged reconnaisance. until one of the l)ir(i> actually 



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