THE OOLOGIST. 



fascination foi* which I have never out- 

 grown. I soon learned that it was far 

 easier to get the young birds from the 

 nest than to captui-e the old ones, es- 

 pecially so in the way recommended by 

 my parents, viz., the salt method, by 

 which, I am safe in saying, 1 never had 

 success. 



Imagine my delight at being present- 

 ed with a real live owl, one with horns, 

 and that snapped his bill uncommonly 

 close to my fingers. He was duly in- 

 stalled in a roomy cage in the wood- 

 shed, and I fed him on meat, stuck on 

 the prongs of a fork that was tied to a 

 stick. From this fork he snapped the 

 meat much to the amusement of myself 

 and the usual crowd of spectators. He 

 was the terror of the house cat, that 

 never failed to run when those large, 

 yellow eyes were turned towards her. 

 At night, he made hideous noises, which 

 kept the family so awake. that they vow- 

 ed vengence, and unto this day I believe 

 they carried out their threats for my 

 owl mysteriously disappeared. 



A friend similarly inclined, proposed 

 that we launch into the bird business, • 

 and we did with intrepidity that was 

 astonishing, for we entered into the en- 

 terprise, not for financial success, but 

 for the pure novelty of the thing. His 

 living in the country offered better facil- 

 ities for procuring the young birds, and 

 we eventually had more than we knew 

 what to do with. Unfortunately, we 

 knew nothing of their diet, and were 

 surprised and alarmed at their rapid 

 decrease, especially so, at the care we 

 gave them, and the constant feeding 

 with corn meal and water. Our cha- 

 grin at the final failure only stimulated 

 me to further experiments, and I finally 

 succeeded in raising a family of crows 

 much to my delight and the vexation of 

 the family. Those five crows were a 

 nuisance, mildly putting it, and where 

 they learned their pranks I am unable 

 to say. I fortunately succeeded in do- 

 nating two to a friend, who I believe 



eventually wrung their necks for some 

 misbehavior. One of the remaining 

 three was good enough to die, the other 

 two came to a sad end, one being shot 

 for a petty theft, and the other, probab- 

 ly in sorrow, drowned himself in a wat- 

 ering trough. A neighboring boy also 

 owned a Crow, a black one, not espec- 

 ially in color but in chai'acter. He 

 never failed to follow the boys when 

 they were hunting, scaring all game 

 away by his vociferous cawing. In a 

 distant brick building, was a hole into 

 which the Sparrows retreated when they 

 saw Jim Crow in the vicinity. He soon 

 caught on to their little game, and took 

 his stand on a ledge a few inches from 

 the entrance, pecking their heads when- 

 ever they peeped cautiously out and 

 chuckling joyously to himself at his 

 shrewdness. He would also chase the 

 pigeons, and all the dogs and cats in 

 the neighborhood had great fear of 

 him . 



I used to cast covetous eyes on a pair 

 of magpies brought from Colorado by a 

 lady friend. She named them Jimaand 

 Jack, and they soon learned to distin- 

 guish one name from the other, and 

 come when called. While they were 

 angels compared with my crows, they 

 proved an unending source of annoy- 

 ance to her, stealing every small article 

 they saw, hiding them under the edges 

 of the carpet or behind pictures, and 

 every day she ran across new deposi- 

 tories for their stolen booty. The birds 

 had a curious way of playing leap-frog, 

 and numerous other tricks, which they 

 performed to a degree of exactness 

 pleasing to the lookeron. Blue Jays 

 are easily tamed and make interesting 

 pets, but they are mischievous like the 

 Crow, and are not too be trusted. 

 Crackles are very interesting birds to 

 rear, and while they are not as tricky 

 as the Crow, they will go through very 

 ludicrous performances. While spend- 

 ing a week in September at a friend's 

 house in Iowa, I captured a number of 



