The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-13
Tribunals Of Birds.
The animal creation, whether Of beasts

bers often exhibit an lntelllgenco auu
power of thought, design and aim in
their doings, strangely akin to what we
see in human beings. Natural history
is full of examples confirming and illus.
trating this statement, and observation is
continually adding to their number, one
of the most singular and curious OF
which is seen in what has been called. as
in our title, "The Tribunal of Birds"
As one instant of this, the writer will
state what he himself has witnessed, and
in three different cases where he has
mentioned it to others they have told
him that they had themselves seen sub
stantially the same thing. he Was going
with friend through woody and sandy
part of lower New jersey, when bis
attention was arrested by large gath
eripg of COWS on the border Of the woods,
who we're flying about with not little
noise, and excitement, so much so that,
as he drew cautiously near, he did not
seem to be noticed. Quietly seating
| himself with his friend on log he con-
cluded to watch their doings, when ne
saw the strange and curious proceeding,
a brief account of which follows.
In pumber the CROW might have been
some fifty OF. sixty. Most of them were
flying backward and forward, filling the
air with their caving. One was sitting
on a branch, some twenty feet above the
the ground, as if supervising the whole
scene, and at intervals uttering sharp
and authoritative "caw" to the others.
On the ground below, entirely by them
selves, were two crows, silent and appar-
emily depressed. who were evidently the
objects Of the gathering. Whether they
were sick, or old and feeble and disabled,
or had committed some crime against
the crow.law, their language did not
inform us, but they looked and acted
like culprits, and SO seemed to be regard.
ed by the others. My friend thought he
once or twice heard some sound from
them, which he fancied might be tone
of remonstrance or complaint, or perhaps
of appeal for pity; but the writer did
not notice it. For some minutes the
great body of crows we're flying about
energetically and cawing, but soon the
nsise diminished, and most of them had
settled upon the trees, when suddenly, as
if at some signal, or by some simultane-
GUS impulse, they all darted upon the
two culprits or offenders on the ground,
and literally tore them to pieces, scatter.
ing their feathers on every side, after
which the entire flock dispersed and few
away.
Since witnessing the sight thus men,
toned, the writer has been told by an
old and leading physician of New Jersey,
that he has twice in his lifetime witnessed
q similar transaction among the crows; /;
and young friend says he has once,
when out hunting, seen substantially the
same thing, except that, in the last case,
the victim was but a single crow. In
each instance, the offender, whatever his
offence might have been, was torn in
pieces by his associates. And 80 we see,
in a leading journal of Geneva, in SWitz,
erland, that a well know Alpine tourist
publishes an account of the proceedings
of a "raven tribunal" which he acciden.
j tally witnessed, while in an excursion in
the Swiss mountains.
Descending from the region of the
glaciers, be came upon glen surrounded
by thick woods, concealed in which be
witnessed, as he says, q strange spectacle
Some sixty. or seventy ravens formed q
circle round one of their number, whose
conduct they were eagerly discussing,
With great clatter Of croaking and
J clapping of wings. Every now and then
they interrupted their noise to listen, fol
a moment, to the energetic cawing o.
the culprit, who seemed to be defending
himself with earnestness and vigor, the
apparent judges breaking out as soon al
he closed into a deafeuing chorous O.
comments and replies to his statements
And soon, having arrived at their con
} clusion, they few upon the arraignet
bird from all sides, and tore him t.
pieces with powerful beaks, and thel
dispersed, leaving the remains of sh'
executed offender strewed upon th'
ground.
And this narrative from the Genevs
papers leads 3 correspondent of ,tht
Daily Telegraph to say on the same
eubject that when be was riding OF
horseback near Norfolk, in England, ht
was startled by hearing an unusua
commotion among the rocks of thu
neighborhood. Quietly tying his horse
. he crawled to a gap in the hedge of Z
; q grass field in which a "rook trial b.
jury" as he calls it, was going on. Th'
culprit, he says, "at first appeared yer!
perky and jaunty," though surrounded
: by some forty or fifty of his evidentl!
indignant associates, while an cater rint
of some hundreds were necessarily ant
. loudly cawing with far greater indigna
ton than vas shown by the more selec
, number. After few minutes, however
be says the manner of the culprit sud
denly and wholly changed. BE bent bis
head, cawed weakly, as it were implor
ingly and dropped his wings, as i
J pleading for mercy. But it was useless
The select circle closed upon him a
once and, pcking him to pieces, left 9
mangled carcaes in less time than one
could write it. Then they all few away
with sort ofexulting scream, some to
the rookery and some to the neighborine
fields. On picking up the remains
he adds, II found but a shapelesa mass:
Il ~ "a