Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-01-28
WHITE HOUSE coos AND GROWS
Tramp Dogs That Hibernate In the
Fountain Basins-Thc Sparrows,
Robins, and Crows.


Tramp Dogs That Hibernate in the
Fountain Basins-Thc Sparrows,
Robins, and Crows.
| For the past week, writes q CORE
spondent to The Ncw York Mail and
Express, workmen have been busily on
gagged in raking up the dead leaves that
have fallen from the trees in the white
house grounds, and making huge piles
of them. The strong wind made it dif-
ficult to rake clean, and frequently
scattered the piles when formed. The
men have not been working by the job,
though, and did not seem to mind
going over their work. These piles of
leaves will not be left on the grounds.
They will be dumped into the fountain
basins in the different parts of the
grounds aften the water is turned of,
to prevent the cold from cracking the
masonry. Orer these leaves will be
placed evergreen trees to keep them in
place, and the fountains will have a
nice warm blanket till spring. The
most interested spectators of the past
weeks work were a number of tramp
dogs, who intend alternating at the
bottom of the fountain basins. They
will burrow among the leaves and make
| their beds at the bottom, where they
can be perfectly warm and comfortable
during the coolest winter weather.
This has been a dog custom for many
years past. When spring comes and
their homes are broken up the dogs
have become so accustomed to the sur
roundings that they are unwilling to
leave the vicinity of the white house,
and have to be continually driven away.
The little yellow dog that became ia.
nous in the Garfield Inauguration pro-
cession came from the white house
fountains, as did his yellow and white
descendants who patiently awaited the
starting of President Clcveland's in
augural procession last March The
dogs who take up their winter quarters
in the fountains this year can already be
seen about the grounds at all hours of
the day. They spend the nights in the
pile of leaves. They cannot be driven
away, for they know when they have a
good thing. Their number is not as
large as it would be but for several re-
cent visits of the dog catchers in the
early morning hours. Several of the
canine tramps who had their winter
quarters selected are now no more.
The white house grounds have always
been favorite resort for birds and ami
mails. Nowhere in the city were the
little English sparrows more plentiful
than here. They built their nests in the
vines in the rear of the white house and
in the hollow cannon-balls that surmount
the railing of the port cochere. Their
presence was fatal to the innumerable
robins who come every spring. The
sparrows made such war upon them
that only portion of their former num-
Der hop about the grounds after the
frost is gone, and these do not care to
stay long. 1t looks now as, if tho rob-
ms would have better chance next
spring, for their is scarcely sparrow
to be seen about the place. Red pepper
sprinkled on the leaves of the vines
in which the sparrows build their nests,
aided by a morning and evening shaking
up with long poles, proved quite effect
i've. Crows, too, had hand in the fight.
The thousands of crows which for long
time have passed over the city ever
morning from their Virginia home to
Maryland feeding grounds "ere apt to
become bewildered on foggy mornings,
and frequently some of them made the
white house grounds their stopping
| place. They seemed to like the place,
and some OF them took up their perma-
quarters there, and if they did not con-
tinue to the grain field with their COM
panions, picked up their meals around
the neighborhood, and had young spar
rows for desert. The sparrow parents
and other relatives made vigorous re-
sistance to this system of robbery, and
frequently got the better of the crows,
but it seems as if there was too much OPP
position to them, for they have cleared
out. The crows, too, have taken their
departure. The only thing left to re-
mind one of them is large crows nest
in the extreme top of one of the trees on
the edge of the roadway leading up to
the white house from the avenue. 1t
was built there last spring, and in it a
family of little crows passed their infan-
cy. The tramp dogs, however, still re-
tain possession of tho grounds, and it
looks as if some of the army of Office
seekers who are now excluded from the
building might be glad to share their
quarters this winter.