ALLEN] THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMIE 173 



Jimmie feared and bitterly detested. Although he had been our 

 constant companion from May to September even following us for 

 miles on field trips he now suddenly changed and with a thousand 

 imprecations against the dog and us, he left home and entered upon 

 a chequered career. 



After some days we learned that our baby crow was hanging 

 around a saloon. Apparently, Jimmie was getting a bad start in 

 life. We repeatedly brought him home, but as long as we had the 

 dog we could not keep him unless we caged him. He wandered 

 farther and farther seeking always man in preference to his own 

 kind and had it not been for the little aluminum band of the 

 American Bird Banding Association on his leg we might have 

 lost him. 



The band was used in the hope that if Jimmie ever returned to 

 the wild state, it would give some further information about the 

 migratory movements of crows, but from the minute Jim left his 

 nest he must have renounced crow society forever for his affections 

 are only for people. After Jimmie had been reported twice to the 

 Bird Banding Association in New York by persons who were detain- 

 ing him in their homes, we replaced the band with a silver one 

 engraved with our name and address. We were thus able to 

 locate him direct. Word came to us from all parts of the city 

 about our crow; for as soon as we brought him home from one 

 place, he was off in another direction, although there were a few 

 neighboring places whsre he was a regular visitor — too regtilar and 

 too constant we shall see. 



Jim made both friends and enemies. On one of his first outings 

 he flew up to the upper floor of a suburban home and tapped on the 

 window. The occupants thought it strange but very nice to have 

 a crow come to their window and welcomed him by opening it. 

 Without a sound Jimmie flew over to the bath tub (for it happened 

 to be the bath room) grabbed a cake of soap, and triumphantly 

 flew out again. He always has had a liking for soap, probably on 

 account of its fatty material for Jim's early diet was lacking in 

 fats. Butter and cheese are still a great delight to him. 



More brazen than steaHng soap were his pranks at the neighbors. 

 Indeed it is a wonder they put up with him as long as they did but 

 no doubt Jim's irrepressibility has a certain likeableness. 



The summer that Jimmie was a year old he learned the joy of 

 pulling up yovmg plants in the garden. The destruction of beans 



