laughed and said, “It’s hot,” and the Crow 
croaked back, “It’s hot, It’s hot!’ From that 
day every time he was startled or from any 
cause suddenly became excited, he would in- 
stantly yell, “It’s hot!” 
As Jim was now getting pretty strong on the 
wing and was flying around a good deal Howard 
became afraid that he might leave. So on 
Uncle Pete’s advice one day he caught the bird 
and clipped off the ends of the long feathers of 
one wing, which would prevent his flying until 
such time as he might get a new coat of feathers. 
This did not keep him from going all over 
the place, for he could walk well, of course, and 
when in a big hurry he could flop along for a 
few feet, in spite of his cropped wing, before 
coming to the ground. Still he was unable to 
fly up into the trees. He could get to his roost 
in the fig bush all right, because the limbs came 
close to the ground. An old ladder had been left 
leaning against one of the live-oak trees in the 
yard. He could climb this, and often didso. In 
the big crotch of this tree near the top of the 
ladder was a level place where he would often 
137 
