Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-10-30
CROWS ATTACK A wO0DCHUCK.
A MARLBOROUGH battle I'm which the
birds Are Victorious.


A woodchuck had its burrow in an
elevated piece of ground at the edge
of field of buck wheat stubble along
the public road between Monticello
and Thompsonville in Sullivan
county. 1t had been seen occasional
ly playing in the stubbic. A few days
ago a flock OF crows took up their
quarters in piece of woods near the
field, and have since passed their time
feeding on the buckwheat, which they
seem to find in abundance in the stub
BILE. On Friday a resident Of MONT
cello was driving alang the road, when
he heard a great tumult among the
crews The entire flock was centered
about certain spot in the field, and
individual members were darling up
and down and to and fro, and always
| returning savagely to the same spot
| The noise of the combined cawing of
the fifty threats was deafeniug and OF
that peculiar character which always
denotes that the crow has more serious
| business on hand than the ordinary
duties of everyday life. The man
stopped his horse and looked to see
what the cause of the tumult was,
and discovered that the woodchuck
had wandered unexpectedly into
the stubble, and that the crows, talk
ing otfense at his presence on their
feeding ground had attacked him in
force. The woodchuck was trying to
make his way to his burrow, but, as
sailed ON every side by the sharp beakS
and strong CLOVIS of the crows, he
found his progress exceedingly slow
and painful. Now and then, goared
by some especially savage dig from a
crow, he would make a show of fight
ing back, but this only increased the
morse and the fierceness of his assail
ants Fortunately for the woodchuck
he had been surprised by the jealous
crows before he had gone far from his
hole. If he had been set upon in the
middle of the field he would have
been killed and doubtless eaten be
fore he could have reached his home.
AS it was, he gradually edged along
toward the burrow. The air was fiji.
ed with flying fur and feathers. The
woodchuck would have had some
SHOW with a dog or two, but the sort
of warfare carried on by the crows
was something that rendered his best
tactics utterly worthless. After a
| struggle of nearly ten minutes the
| poor animal succeeded in dragging
himself to the mouth of the hole, and
| it needed all of his remaining strength
to pull himself safely inside of il. The
crows cjrcled around and around the
spot where the woodohuck had disap-
peared, filing the air with the most
hideous cries, but whether OF disap
pointment or triumph the spectator is
unable to say,
Finally, they oil alighted on TIE
ground, few feet away from the bur
row, and apparently held council
of war They cawed and strutted
about, first one and then another fly
ing up to the woodchucS's hole. and
then back TO the council. These
movements lasted for five minutes,
aud resulted in two old crows posting
themselves on the fence directly op.
| posite the woodchuck's hole, and only
few feet away from IT, The remain
der of the flock returned to their work
in the field, and not sound was heard
from any of them. The spectator was
so interested in the proceedings that
he waited for half an hour To- see If
anything new developed. The two
crows on the fence, where they had
been placed, evidently TO give notice
if the woodchuck appeared again, re-
manned at their posts as dumb as
oysters. No change in the situation
taking place, the spectator was about
to drive on, when he heard cav from
one of the sentinel crows, The man,
surprising that the woodchuck had
been unwise enough again to venture
out, expected to sec the entire flock
once more hurry to the scene. Such
was not the case. In response to the
cry two crows left the flock and flew
TO the fence, took the places of the two
sentinels, and the latter returned TO
the the field The spectator, unwilling
to remain any longer for fear that he
might see something done that would
not be believed when he told OF it,
drove on. He returned past the field
an hour and half later. There were
still two silent sentinel crows on The
fence. Yesterday he returned with
another man TO see what the result OF
the difficulty between the crows and
the woodchuck had been There we're
TO sentiuels on the fence. The men
flushed the crows ia the field and they
flew to the woods. a visit was made
to the woodchucks hole. Ii had beea
dug out The man who had seen
the proceedings on Friday at first de
clared his belief that the crows had
grown weary of waiting for the wood
chuck to come out and had set Ia and
unearthed him. There were about
the spot, however, too many evidences
of the small boy and the dog for this
theory to hold, and it was abandoned
IT Raised Him.