72 



THE OSPREY. 



defined wreath is discernable. The set taken 

 May IS, 1896, and described above, is one of the 

 more heavily marked sets. The most lig-htly 

 marked set of the series is speckled all over 

 with minute dotting-s of hazel, vinaceous-cinna- 



mon and faint heliotrope purple. The ground 

 color throughout is white or creamy tinted. 

 Twenty-seven eggs in the series averag-e: 0.67 

 X 0.S3 inch. 



A PET CROW. 

 By C. F. Stone, Branchport, Pa. 



It was on the 1st of June, 1894, that I made 

 Tom's acquaintance by poking him out of his 

 nest with a ten-foot stick, for the nest was far 

 out on a hcjrizontal limb about 60 feet liigh. He 

 dropped into a basket fastened to another stick, 

 his one set of claws clutching' a large portion 

 of the nest lining and the other grasping the 

 leg of his sister, who, after vain efforts to 

 stay in the nest, finally toppled over into the 

 basket along-side of Tom. But it is of Tom that 

 I wish to tell you, for he was the more intelli- 

 gent of the two. 



During- the first few weeks lie would follow 

 me about when hungry, squawking as only a 

 young Crow can squawk, at the rate of about 

 sixty squawks per minute; and when I filled him 

 so full of worms that he could scarcely close his 

 mouth it would be only ten minutes before he 

 would squawk for more. 



As he grew older he would eat anything from 

 the table except sour preserves, and after meals 

 he usually picked up small bits of gravel, glass, 

 cinders, or sand. 



Tom was an expert at catching mice, captur- 

 turing- thein with the dexterity of a cat and 

 holding them with his claws while he tore them 

 into small pieces and ate them, skin, bones 

 and all, with great relish. Crows are said to 

 kill chickens sometimes. I never saw Tom kill 

 but one, and that a weakling which I was trying 

 to save. One day the chick got out of its box 

 and Tom began to examine it from all sides, 

 walking around it several times in a gingerly 

 manner, turning his head from one side to the 

 other, his eyes sparkling- like black diamonds. 

 Finally concluding that it must be something- 

 good to eat he knocked it senseless at one blow 

 and flew away with it into the willows, where 

 he tore it into shreds, eating-, however, but a 

 small portion. When feeding him I usually 

 stood awaj' fifteen or twenty feet and tossed the 

 food to him, which he caught in his bill with 

 wonderful deftness. He would catch any small 

 article in a like manner. 



Tom was a great mimic, and could cackle 

 just like an old hen. He could mimic a person's 

 laugh to perfection, but the onl)- words that he 

 ever could articulate clearl)- were " hello ! " and 

 "gooff." Whenever I greeted hiui with "Hello 

 Tom," he would reply in a drawling comical 

 tone, "Hello, huh, huh, huh, huh," thus ending 

 with some words of Crow jargon, and mean- 

 while going through the most ridiculous con- 

 tortions. I taught him to say "go off" by 

 repeating it to him manj- times and shaking a 

 cat at him in order to set his tong-uein motion — 

 and it alwaj's had that effecl . 



I soon learned to understand some of Tom's 

 crow talk. Whenever he uttered a long drawn, 

 low toned "ah," it was a sure sign that a 



strange dog or cat was coming, and if the ani- 

 mal came too near he would break forth into a 

 series of "caws" and hustle for the hig-hest 

 perch that he could find. A short, quickly 

 uttered "uh" meant that he was hungry; while 

 a ringing loud "uh, uh, uh." alwa^'s three times 

 with an interval of a few seconds, meant that 

 Tom was happy. 



During dark cloudy days in winter he had a 

 habit of getting- onto the highest perch that he 

 could find in the engine room where I kept him, 

 and keeping perfectly quiet; but as the weather 

 cleared Tom would sav " uh. uh, uh" and come 

 down to g-et into all st>rts of mischief. Among 

 his many pranks was pulling pins from clothes 

 lines, which caper caused a woman to clip his 

 wing-s. He never stole the pins, but merely 

 went the length of the line, pulled the pins out, 

 and tossed them over his shoulder. 



One evening I was setting out cabbage plants 

 in my garden, and after putting- in a low of 30 

 plants I arose from my knees and turned around 

 to see if they were in straight. "Whatl you 

 black imp, get out of this!" There lay every 

 plant but three or four, for Tom had followed 

 close upon my heels and yanked them out. So 

 still was he that I did not suspect what he was 

 abcut. He always kept mighty quiet when in 

 mischief. He was fond of playthings, and he 

 spent many happy hours playing with an old 

 cob pipe, which he was careful to hide when 

 tiredof it by covering it with a lot of sticks, stones 

 or other rubbish. He did the same with his 

 food when he had too much, but would dig it 

 out bye and bye and eat it. 



Tom liked to have me scratch his head, and 

 showed his appreciation by slyh- stealing'- a 

 pencil or cigar from my vest pocket and flying 

 away before 1 could prevent him. After Tom's 

 wings were clipped he always came to me when 

 ready to g'^o to roost, beg-ging' me to lower my 

 hand that he ujight hop onto it and be raised 

 high enoug^h to jump to his perch. He could 

 not settle dowii at once, but would wipe his bill 

 the whole length of the perch first. He enjoyed 

 a pan of water into which he would plunge, no 

 matter how cold the water. Tom's "bump of 

 curiosity" was well developed, for he was 

 always prj-iug into boxes and scattering their 

 contents. He could pull corks out of bottles 

 almost as easily as a corkscrew, and thereby 

 hangs the story of Tom's end. One d.ay he 

 pulled the cork out of a vial containing- oil of 

 smoke and swallowed a drop or so. For three 

 days Tom kept his perch, refusing all food or 

 water; not a cawor hello v\-ould he say. On the 

 morning of the fourth I found him under his 

 perch: his spirit had gone to the happy hunting 

 grounds where crows do not have to spend half 

 their time in trying to save their skins. 



