on the Australian Piping Crow.



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emunciated but the vocabulary is strictly limited, and never, never

will he learn to whistle the last notes of a tune.


The female of this species is not so accomplished as the

male, though equally interesting and docile. She is smaller, the

white and black of the plumage is less glossy than that of the male

bird, and her beak is feebler. One female that I possessed was

highly intelligent, you had only to show her a mouse trap and she

would tell you what ought to be in it. An empty cotton reel made

her very happy, and she would lie on her back holding the reel in

her claws and play for hours like a kitten.


I cannot claim to have bred these birds, as unlike most

aviculturists, I take no interest in breeding operations. All my birds

are therefore celibates. Necessity knows no law and there are

no quarrels in a feathered community of monks and nuns.


I have, at the present time, a remarkably fine Crow, just

over four years of age, who is known in the family circle as “ Poor

Peter.” He came to me as a nestling, in the dingy grey and muddy

black dress worn by the infant Magpie. He was so extremely

youthful that he could not eat correctly; as to water apparently

he had never heard or seen it, for he swallowed it in drops out

of a tea-spoon in fear and wonder.


Even now he is strangely abstemious and uses water for

bathing only (really its proper purpose!) Perches he had no use

for, preferring to roost on the cage bottom—a fad he still indulges in.

Peter belongs to the white necked, black backed variety and is

beautifully marked, the black being very black and the white very

snowy. His beak which was black at first soon changed and is

now quite a fine instrument, long and polished, greyish blue with

a black tip.


Peter always answers to his name and will run from any

part of the house or grounds, on being called, as obedient as a dog.


He is also a highly brained bird. For instance, he can fetch

and carry a ball or piece of paper, deliver it up and wait for you to

throw it. Will “shake hands” at command, sit on one’s lap and

allow his feathers to be stroked, etc. He has a really charming

temperament, a trifle hasty sometimes, but as the cook said, a little

present will quickly bring him round.



