Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-10-15
The TALE OF A PET CROW.
BE MADE HIMSELF USEFUL ABOUT
THE FARM.
His Conversational Abilities Were
Truly Marvellous His Strange
Birth and Pathetic Death.

was worth considerable
to me-" said a Loyalsock man to the
Scranton PENN correspondent of the
New York Sun. "Tne way l came to
get the crow was a little singular. One
Of my boys was flying his kite early IN
the summer, and when it had sailei high
up over a piece of woods on my place
the string broke and the kite lodged in
the top of q hemlock tree. The boy
bawled about the loss of his kite, and l
bad to climb the tree and geti it for him.
A crow flew off her nest near the top Of
the tree while I was climbing up, and
when l reached the nest I found one egg
in it. After | had unloosened the kite
and let it drop. l placed the crows egg
in my mouth and kept it there till I
had backed down the tree, and then l
ran to the barn and put the eggunder s
hen that had been sitting tor a day or
SO. The old hen offered no objections,
and several days before she came off with
her chickens she Matched out the ~liveliest
little crow l ever saw. We began to
raise the baby crow IN the house; when
be was big enough to II around on the
floor l named him htte.
"He learned to say a good many
words by the time he was a year old,
and one morning that summer I heard
him yelling down an unused chimney at
a lot CT swallows that were nesting in it.
The swallows were making q great
racket, and Kite was singing out, Hold
your tongue!' as loud as he could yell.
The crow had heard that command in
the family, and he used it on the swal.
lows because their noise annoyed him.
At first the swallows paid no attention
to the crow. and Kite yelled, Stop your
cussed noise! Stop your cussed noise!
till the swallows twittered all the harde..
Then Kite dived down the chimney, and
the swallows poured out in a stream and
circled around it, squalling violently at
the crow when he flew up and perched
himself on the top of the chimney. l
called him away, and the swallows o
quoted down. When they came home
at night the crow sat on the edge of the
chimney and yelled, Clear out !! at them
pleasant for them inside of a fortnight
that they deserted the chimney.
"When Kite was two years old a pair
of eagles nested in an inaccessible cliff
onfhe side of Pinxster Peak. I had
forty young lambs in a pasture, and on a
nice May morning one of the eagle!
swooped down, caught a day old lamb in
its claws, and was about to rise with 1t
when the crow alighted on the eagles
back and yelled: Put the lamb down!
Drop the lamb, cuss your and a lot of
other spiteful orders. I had run out
with a shot gun, but Kite hung to the
eagles back, and l was afraid to shoot
for fear of killing the crow. Kite yelled
and clawed at the eagle till he made it
drop the lamb, and then he pecked at
the eagles head till the big bird shook
him off away toward the cliff. The lamb
was killed by the fall, aad the crow few
back, settled down by the lamb, and was
saying: Too bad! Too bad!' when l
reached the spot. When | picked up
the lamb l heard Kite say: 'Ill kill that
eagle some time The useful crow took
it upon himself to protect the lambs
from the eagles, and all day long he few
from one part of the pasture to another,
perched on trees and fences, and kept an
eye out for the voracious birds. When
ever he saw an eagle soaring in the SKY
he would fly to where I was working,
lsing out: John, look out for the eagle!
nnd then sail back to the pasture and
watch over the lambs. He would cav
like everything as long as the eagle was
in sight, and when It disappeared he
would sit in silence on a limb or stake
and gaze into the sky. The presence of
the crow kept off the eagles, aud didn't
lose another lamb.
''In the fall l had a COW and litter Of
young pigs running in the road. Oae
afternoon one of the eagles plunged and
caught a pig just as the crow had alight
ed On a post near the mud puddle where
the pigs were wallowing. The eagle
struck into the pig SO hard tina. it drove
the little fellow into the mud, and while
the bird was trying to claw it out, Kite
yelled, John, come and shoot the eagle.
/ was in a little kop near by, and when
ran out the crow was pecking at the
eagles head and the old SOW was doins
her best to push off the eagle. Til,
other pigs were squealing and running
about in the puddle, and Kite was yell
ing, Get off! get off! get off. at the
top of his voice, and beating the eagle
over the head with his wings. The Ok
SOW was snorting and gruntiig ant
striking at the eagle as though her life
was at stake; the little pig was strug
Cling and squealing in the mud, ant
when l got to the noisy crowd the eagle
tunb!ed over on its side and began t,
strike v~ic;ously at the crow and the SOY
with its bill. Kite Jew around anc
yelled, John, ring Its neck!' aud whel
| caught the eagle By one Of its wing
and flung it into the road | saw that |
was gasping and dying. a pointe
wire that | had put on the sow's nose I,
keep her from roofing had pierced ths
eagles lungs, and the pig bird died in
minute or two. Kite aliantei on tn
eagle as soon IS he saw 1t wa ~lifeless
tapped his wing, and sang OUT, job,
we got him this time
kite could tel. the time OF lav D