44 



The Hawkeye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



Seemingly always busy, he would 

 follow the gardener around hour 

 after hour, catching and killing or 

 hiding the various insects and worms, 

 but was never noticed to eat any 

 himself. Prom this peculiar charac- 

 teristic of hiding food for another 

 meal comes the crow's hobby of gath- 

 ering miscellaneous articles and se- 

 creting them in out of the way 

 places. He always remembered per- 

 fectly well where he hid any thing, 

 and, even after a heavy fall of snow, 

 could go to the exact spot and find 

 what he wished. By keeping a care- 

 ful watch we saw him ressurrect one 

 of the door keys of the house after he 

 had had it safely laid away for sever- 

 al weeks. One often noticed trait 

 \vas, that he would never attempt to 

 steal anything when one was watch- 

 ing him, but as soon as one's back 

 was turned would get what he wished 

 and move off with the greatest haste. 

 His customary gait was a cross 

 between a fly and a hop, although 

 when not disturbed nor in a hurry he 

 would walk away very sedately. 



He liked to ramble through the 

 flower beds and bite off such buds 

 and blossoms within his reach as 

 seemed to please his fancy, never mo- 

 lesting any but the choicest roses or 

 other flowers. He caugnt, carried off 

 and killed several young chickens 

 once, hence he is imprisoned at the 

 very time birds most enjoy liberty — 

 spring. One day a neigiibor observ- 

 ed him steal quietly up to a eat and 

 give her a powerful blow on the head; 

 then, taking advantage of her sur- 

 prise, he seized a kitten and made 

 off with it. 



He would set like patience on a mon- 

 ument waiting for a hen to leave the 

 nest in order that he might steal the 

 newly laid eggs, which he was never 

 known to impale with his bill, but 

 always carried them off holding his 

 head nearly perpendicular. If sud- 

 denly alarmed the egg,of course, slip- 



ped and was usually broken in the 

 fall. One thing that seemed peculiar 

 was, that he would never touch the 

 china nor composition nest eggs. 

 He had a partiality for green corn, 

 peas, etc., but mice and gophers 

 were his favorites. He once caught 

 a full grown cedar bird, which he was 

 made to release. The bird,' by the 

 way, was only slightly wounded and 

 soon became tame. We kept it for 

 several weeks. 



Like many of the human family, he 

 has Ms moods, and he may exercise 

 his vocal powers for hours one day 

 and not make the attempt again for 

 weeks. Hello, vhat, who, why, a 

 cackle, various imitations of barking, 

 a peculiar rattling sound like the ir- 

 regular running of cog wheels, and a 

 variety of "caws" comprise his vo- 

 cabulary. Those well accustomed to 

 his various caws can readily tell what 

 he intends to convey, as for instance, 

 he has peculiar caws for hunger, dan- 

 ger, etc. I have often heard of crows 

 being able to repeat full sentences, 

 and of others that could whistle, but 

 I have considerable doubt in regard 

 to the matter. I have often tried to 

 teach him to whistle but, though he 

 would set and attentively listen, he 

 could never repeat. A relative, fore- 

 man of the Chicago Times composing 

 room, while here on a visit at one 

 time, spent a long while trying to 

 learn him to say "dry up." Tnough 

 the crow made numerous attempts, 

 still he could not strike it, and finally 

 it was given up in despair. On go- 

 ing out the next morning, however, 

 and greeting the crow with "hello" 

 he was quickly told to "dry up." The 

 crow never repeated the words again. 



MIGRATION REPORT. 



The following observations on bird migra- 

 tion were marie at < resco, Iowa, during the 

 month ending February -M, 1.888, 



NAMK. FtKST SEEN. NO S EN. NEXT S4EV. 



Cedar bird 1 — 27 2 



Marsh Hawk 1—29 1 



Black Snowbird 2—5 2 2— 6 



Am. Goldfinch 2 — 5 5 2—17 



Wit te-b. Nutuatch 3—11 3 



