The gale., 1888-02-10
HO0DWINKING THE CROWS.
A Sport That Never Fails TO Amuse
the Boys Up in the North Woods.

small boys who live in New York citv
ana other warmer climates may imagine
tnat small boys up in the woods of North
WOOD, N. Z, don't have any fun during
m sne long winter months, but remain by
.he Kitchen fires like the alternating
pears IN their dens. The weather Is
somewhat cold there, and the snowfalls
are somewhat deep, but If there is any
uoy IN The world that has to alternately
ss''iid s,d on one foot aud dig his heels into
elie snow Tor want Of better ways 30 OK
press how much fun he is having, it is
the 1erhmer county On. W boy. He
mas no end of fun. One of the things
Ne does at this time of the year is to
trap crows. He might trap them in the
spring just as well, but he does not be-
cause by that time he has some other
way OF amusing himself. One of tie
plroS That loves Herkimer county is the
grow. Inc crows increase and multiply
mere like pigeons ON roost, if not quite
Sd rapidly as mosquitoes or black flies
along West Canada Creek, and by Her
kifner county farmers the crow is classed
as noXous vermin to be exterminated
by 1ar means or foul. The farmers gen
orally use smooth bore musket, loaded
with No. shot; but not until by swing
ing barrels and pieces of tin and twine
stretched over his corntield he has vain
~ tried to frighten them away. The
crow makes the farmer very angry. but
to the farmers boy he is q source of
great delight.
The first thing the boy does when he
wants to have some fun with the crows
is to go out to the back end of tie lot
where the corn was planted in the
spring, and throw poczetful of corn
broadcast on the ground if the ground
Is hareof Snow or on the snow if the
snow has a crust on IT, When the snow
is soft the game wont work, because the
corn is lost in the snow. Then he goes
back to the house and waits till tae next
day, when he goes and does the same
thing over again. BY this time all the
crows IN the neighborhood have heard
about the great spread of corn back by
the slab fence in the old cornheld, and
are wondering how it happened that
they didn't see all that corn lying there
before. Then the boy takes half pint
OF hnseed oil and puts it into an old
baking powder can, and puts the can
into pot of water, which he sets boil
ing on the kitchen stove. The oil boils
down pretty thick after awhile, and the
can is removed.
Meantime the boy has taken some OF
the stoutest manila wrapping paper he
can find in the house and has made
three or four cornucopias of it. The
paper that was used to wrap up his
new winter suit that his father bought
i'll Utica is just the thing. The boiled
down oil is used to stick the paper to-
gether into the shape of cornucopia,
and 3 thick ring of it is put around the
inside of the base of the cone thus made.
Then the boy goes out with his cornu-
copias to the slab fence and digs little
holes in the ground and drops cornuco-
pias into the holes. He drops three or
four grains of corn into the cornucopias,
throws handful loose on the ground,
and once more returns home, where he
sits down by the back window andkeeps
his eye on the neighborhood where the
slab fence is.
Then the crows gather at the feast as
before, and pretty soon one spies corn
galore at the bottom of cornucopia.
Down goes his head and up it comes
again, bringing the coTnucopia with it.
That is the most astonishing thing to the
crow that he can remember anything
about since the day he was Matched.
The sticky boiled oil has stuck the cor
nucopia fast to the feathers on his neck
and he is blindfolded as if by FOOLS
cap. With a harsh crp hebacks straight
away from it, only to find that it follows
right along. He gets excited then, and
begins to hop about and flop his wings
and scream, wheraupon the rest OF the
flock become Interested and gather
around to ask him what makes him act
SO. The more sympathetic they become
the more the hoodwinked crow is de-
moralized, until with bedraggled and
disordered plumage and weakened voice
he presents spectacle that makes the
North Woods boy wild with glee.
Sometimes the crow gets claw on
the cornucopia and tears part of it clear
of it's head and flies away, but he usual
iy is unable TO do this; and after the boy
can laugh at him no more the bird falls
a victim to the club which the boy uses
to kill him with.
If he gets away by tearing the cap,
the paper collar remains about his neck
until worn away, for no5hing can sep
arate the paper from the sticky gum
made Of boiled oil.
This method of taking crows may be
illegal, but the farmers consider the bird
such a pest that man here would us
soon make fuss about trapping bear
as trapping a crow.