208 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



IT WAS A HUNTERS' PARADISE 



for a crow. All my readers must know that a crow 

 is one of the shyest and most cunning of birds and 

 that even when a crow is blind in one eye, his cap- 

 ture with one's naked hands is about as difficult a 

 project as even an expert need try to prove his skill. 

 Curious to see if I still possessed the ability de- 

 veloped in my youth I announced my intention of 

 capturing old one-eye with my hands. My first 

 attempts to approach the bird offered me no en- 

 couragement, but afforded an inexhaustible source 

 of amusement to Mrs. Beard, who was reared upon 

 a farm, frequented by these birds, and thor- 

 oughly understood the difficulties attending my at- 

 tempts to capture one alive, she freely declared that 

 it was not possible for a man to capture a wild 

 crow, even if it "were blind in both eyes" But 

 I was not disheartened and I found that my at- 

 tempts to approach nearer the bird were rewarded 

 each time by a slight advance over the previous 

 effort. The old crow gradually became less wary. 

 After watching it feasting upon a large sized 

 rodent I made my final attempt. Whenever its 

 blind eye was turned in my direction I made rapid 

 advances, but as soon as the wary bird 



FOCUSSED HIS GOOD EYE UPON ME 



I stood stock still gazing intently at the sky, at 

 the ground, at a tree, at anything but the crow. 

 Within fifteen minutes after the time of my start 



