Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1890-05-17
CHOW Roosr IN ARLIScrox CEMETERY.

CROW Roosr IN ARLINGTON CEMETERY.
fly over the city of Washington every
morning due east, to the shores of the
Chesapeake, where they feast all day on
the molluscan wash of the sea and return
at night to rest in the funeral shades of
Arlington. They start at early sunrise.
1t is no wonder, therefore, that they have
escaped the notice of the professional
Washington correspondent. A flight
of thirty or forty miles day is nothing
for crow. Cold wave or hot, blizzard
or fog, rain or shine, the journey to and
| fro is made as regular as clockwork.
There is also large roost near Baltimore,
occupied by hundreds Of thousands OF
crows, which have been studied by pro-
fessor in Johns Hopkins University, who
has published his observations in the
transactions of that institution. Great
crow roosts are numerous all over the
country. They may be found on the
islands in the Susquehanna in Pennsyl-
vania. in central Kentucky, in Dakota,
and Nebraska, and on an island in the
Mississippi near st. Louis.
Crows do not always roost on trees.
Sometimes they pass the night on the
sand, camping out, and again they seek
tall marsh grass. 1t is said they roost in
large flocks for the purpose OF self-pro'
lection. Not long since those at Wash
ington roasted outside of the Govern
ment reservation. There they were mo
: Tested at night by black men with guns
Now they have moved inside the reser
walton where cunning is not permitted
5 So they are really wards of the Govern
ment at present. They have less fear o
| dead men in the National cemetery, THAI
A they have of predaceous Africans arme'
{ with blunderbusses. Crows have tn
happy faculty of eating anything whicl
S fancy dictates, without harm. The see'
Of the poison ivy is a favorite with them
After the outside of the berry which con
tains the seed has been digested and as
| simulated, the seeds themselves are cas-
from the mouth in the shape of pellet
i The same is true of the fur of mice, etC
4 1t is this remarkable popularity on tn
/ part of the crow which spreads or plant
i the ivy-vine all over the land.
j The late Rev. E. p Roe called ivy tn
q svine bewitched," because it seems
Il SOrOuI up eNeENNIleIe NhbAlouN Nt'o9o' -
q little suspected that the crow was IL
4 planter. Many other seeds are droppe
Il in the same way by the crow. hes
3 that in the South he is great destroy
q of pecan nuts. Thus far he does not a
pear to have discovered peanuts.
What is the origin of the crow? ID
st he emigrate from Europe at the time
d, before the era of Christopher Columbu
lg There is little real information upon II
n point as yet The crow is not even me
RI toned by Magillivray in his work on {
-Rapacious Birds of Great Britain" b
tS IDENTIFY Magillivray, who was friend
NJ Audubon, did not regard the crow as
nacious in Great Britain. Gilbert Whit
es- in his charming work, the Natural Il
W, tory of Selbourne, does not mention
10 crow. The truth is the crow was neN
&c. seen at Selbourne. 1t is not an inhs
r., tant of Great Britain. In that count
all the bird which most resembles the Am
oil lean crow is called rock. And the 70
ics is a religious bird in England, alw'
De towering about cathedral towers,
Is have seen it at Lincoln and York, a
iau calling out, Hurry up your praye
1t Bishop, Bishop, vespers !" etc.
FULLER-WALEER