Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-10

his tail, seemingly bent on dragging
the owner OF. Whether the strain on
his caudal arbendage overcame him, or
whether Prompted by motives of ven
geance. cabot say, but after Few
seconds st-udle the bandicoot backed
out and snapfd fercely at his foes,
who retreatedk step or two and waited.
The crow at hs tail was the first to re-
tire; and givlnsit defiant waggle, to
make sure 1t was free, the rat made
another rush fd his burrow. The very
moment his hea was out of sight, a
crow bounced uion his tail again, and
the others resuAed the attack, draw
ing blood at eery peck. l began to
understand the modus operandi, and
grew interested; the crows plan of ac-
ton. in detail, wa to assault only when
the rat could no1bite back; and the
general idea to VERY him until he sue
cumbed to exhaution and weakness.
1t took the birds Just twelve minutes
to achieve Il vlcpry; the bandicoot
grew weary, and presently the crows
confined the ms civ IS to simply dragging
him out wheneverhe got halfway into
his hole. As soon IS it appeared safe,
they bounced upq him en- masse,
pecked out his fes, and literally
stabbed him 20 desth. Then, in halt
the time it had takp to kill him, they
ate him and flew away happy.
People who don't know the crow
may find difficultyAin believing the
following anecdotes though Anglo
Indians will accept 4 without hesita-
ton A dog of my cquaintance-a
fox terrier OF long etstern experience
was one morning eating a chicken
bone on the veranda, when two crows
happened to pass, AID, observing the
dog and his bone, wheeled down and
alightcd on the Miranda railing.
whence they set to work croaking to
induce him to drop his brea kfast.
Under ordinary circumstances, an
English dog will fly at crow the
moment he appears: bat on this oc.
casion Jack" simplS looked up
growled, and continued tnawing. The
crows ceased croaking, Ind consulted
together for a moment; hen one of the
pair dropped into the veranda a few
yards behind the dog and croaked at
him again; once more obtaining nc
answer but growl. After strolling
casually round the veranda for
minute, to let Jack settle down, the
bird hoped up silently andswiftly and
gave the dogs tail a cruelnip That
was too much; with a howl of pain.
Jack turned upon his tornenter, and
crow No. 2, who had been patiently
awaiting this opportunity swooped
down upon the bone and carried it off
You never saw dog wear b look OF
such abject humiliation as did Jack
when he recognized how he had been
fooled.
When nature organized her great
scheme of administration, she ap-
pointed the crow to the sanitary de.
partment, with the jackal, Kpariah.
vulture and kite. These four are con.
scientious and painstaking officials.
whose utility no one denies; but after
all / have said about the COW, il
seems idle to add that he never does
any work, or only when it happens tc
suit his private ends. So far his chief
purpose has been to supply us With a
synonym for wickedness and cunning.
and our servants with scapegost; but
he is scarcely worth preserving for
these uses Not that he staads il
need of preservation or in any way
owes his fiourishing conditionsa pro.
tective effort on the part of mani He
is only too well able to take ca,e OF
himself; indeed, if there be anything
in the doctrine of the survival f the
fittest." time should come whei the
crow, and the crow only, will populate
the world Cham berS' Journal