“That's nice of you, Uncle Pete,” he said. 
“Tie it out by the owl cage until I get back. 
You might tell one of the girls in the kitchen 
to feed it,” he added as he rode away. And so it 
came about that on a certain bright April morn- 
ing Jim Crow ceased for a time to be a wild 
crow and began to learn the ways of civilization: 
It was remarkable how well he took to his 
new surroundings. Of. course he objected at 
first to having a string tied around his ankle and 
did not much relish being put in a box at night 
all by himself; but after all his chief interest 
centered around the subject of eating, and there 
. was no lack of good things to eat. For a time he 
was afraid of Howard, who talked to him a great 
deal and often tried to play with his new captive. 
Before long, however, he outgrew this natural 
reluctance for human society, and would perch 
on the boy’s shoulder whenever he called him. 
He developed, too, an interest in the other 
wild pets, as he showed clearly by his actions on 
many occasions. The fox squirrels had a wheel 
in their cage, and Jim Crow would stand and 
watch them whirl this round and round as if it 
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