600 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Its own satistaction. All these arrangements went on 

 amicably enough. When short of nesting material two 

 of the Crows pecked tar off a nearby roof and pasted that 

 on the nest, while the other cawed encouragement from 

 the chimney top. When the eggs were deposited one of 

 the birds took up the duties of incubation while the other 

 two came and went. Whether this was bigamy, poly- 

 gamy or polyandry, deponent saith not. 



Young Crows make exceedingly interesting but often 

 troublesome pets. The Indian boys knew this and kept 

 them in their villages. When we adopt an infant Crow 

 into the family we may ex- 

 pect that there will be "some- 

 thing doing" most of the 

 time. To begin with the 

 youngster will clamor for 

 food during the daylight 

 hours unless its wants are 

 supplied immediately. A 

 young Crow's stomach 

 seems to be something like 

 a bottomless pit, and if not 

 continually filled with a 

 great variety of food there 

 is sure to be trouble. In the 

 brief intervals between the 

 "eats," the young Crow is 

 like a child with nothing to 

 do and is almost certain to 

 get into mischief. As soon 

 as it is able to fly well, it is 

 likely to carry off and hide 

 small tools, trinkets or jew- 

 els, or to lay them down 

 carefully on the roof or the 

 chimney top. Its depreda- 

 tions are by no means con- 

 fined to the household of its 

 owner but often extend to 

 neighboring houses, and it 

 may concern itself particu- 

 larly with the property of 

 visitors. 



A country grocer making 

 his regular rounds was sur- 

 prised to find every paper 



package in his wagon torn J^^^y instances of record prove that he has a decided sense or ^jj^^gg which could repeat 

 ^ humor, and he can be taught to talk and mimic with apparent r u- u 



open and all the eggs intelligence and, at times, startling effectiveness. phrases, one 01 which was 



broken. This occurred sev- "Come on, Jack." Another 



eral times at a particular place. . Later he learned that Crow at Roxbury, Massachusetts, could cry "Hello, Joe" 



long periods at a gap in a board fence waiting for a 

 little fox terrier to come through the opening. Then the 

 expectant bird pecked that frisky pup on the nose, send- 

 ing it yelping home, and immediately flapped to the top 

 of a grape arbor, where it went into ecstacies over the 

 joke. Sometimes the dog was too quick and got away 

 untouched. On such occasions the ecstacies were omit- 

 ted. This Crow followed its master while he was dig- 

 ging in the garden. It picked up all the worms that were 

 unearthed and when its mouth was filled it dug a hole 

 and buried the worms, but could not seem to understand 



why the worms were not 

 there when it returned to 

 the hole with another mouth- 

 ful. Still another tame 

 Crow, fond of eggs, learned 

 that when a hen cackled she 

 was advertising her wares, 

 and the egg was soon on its 

 travels, with a busy Crow 

 lending it wings. 



I find among my notes 

 records of ten tame Crows 

 that have learned to pro- 

 nounce words, but in each 

 case only a few words were 

 enunciated distinctly. The 

 first one learned to say 

 "Fred" (his master's name), 

 "father, mother," and to 

 call the cows, "Boss, boss, 

 boss, boss." He also learned 

 to drop corn on the ground 

 and then imitate the cock's 

 call to the members of the 

 harem, but when the hens 

 arrived in response to his 

 well-imitated call he picked 

 up the corn and flew away, 

 apparently enjoying the 

 joke. According to Mr. 

 Henry Oldys, the late Nel- 

 son R. Wood, taxidermist at 

 the National Museum at 

 Washington, D. C, had two 

 or more Crows at different 



Photograph by Dr. Arthur Parcher 



A CROW MAKES AN INTERESTING PET 



two tame Crows were the culprits. A Crow seemed to 

 delight in stealing its master's pipes and hiding them in 

 the woodpile. Having nothing better to do, it pulled up 

 young plants in the garden beds and laid them all out 

 carefully in order along the rows. Another delighted to 

 peck at the bare legs of the "kiddies." Another frequent- 

 ly could be seen backing a frightened, screaming tot up 

 against a wall while it pecked at the buttons on the child's 

 shoe or at the feet if they were bare. Another stood for 



and could call the cat. During an election he heard the 

 boys cheering their candidate, and soon could "Hurrah 

 for Robinson" with the best of them. This bird learned 

 to laugh "like folks" "especially after he had done some 

 trick." 



A New Hampshire Crow which had learned but one 

 word was accustomed to roost near a sidewalk. It was 

 rather startling to have "Hello" shouted in one's ear, 

 apparently from the empty air, when passing along the 



