The Opelousas courier., 1893-12-02
GREAT ARMY OF CROWS.
THEY HAUNT TIE NATIONAL
CEMETERY AT ARLINGTON.

a Million Find sheltey in the Tree
Tops at Night and 's5o Forth in
the Morning.
is not generally known, but it is
fact, nevertheless, thatthe great
National Cemetery at Arlington,
6 near Washington City, is inhab-
tied every night by an army Of q mil
lion or more Of feathered natives OF
Virginia. Every morning, just before
daybreak, the soldiers of Fort Meyer,
nearby, notice a stir in the tall tree
tops, in the branches and OH the ex-
treme limbs of the primeval forest
which forms the cemetery.
As the light penetrates the leaves
and branches Of the forest the feath.
cred sleepers are awakened and rise
with a bound into the azure blue,
writes a correspondent Of the Phila-
delphia Times. The morning air is
stirred with the Tapping of a million
of wings and with light-pitched notes,
as they are sung by the army Of crows,
Like an army with banners, well
trained, mystic, wonderful, these den,
liens of the forest rise in graceful
fight, and with the lightness and
gracefulness of gyratory curves, they
fall into the line of march with ire
mendous energy and speed across the
sky toward the northeast. Directly
across the old Potomac River where
the Grant Memorial Bridge is proposed
to be built, over ancient Georgetown
and Northern Washington, hiding the
rising sunlight from the suburban
villas, speeding gracefully over the
| Old village Of Bladensburg, the ancient
dueling ground for the National Cap
ltal, the army Of Potomac crowt
marches across the fresh morning in.
to the upper Chesapeake Bay atmos
phere. The head Of the column usually
reaches the bay and commences to
settle down to work by the time tbs
rear guard has left Arlington.
Late in the afternoon, just about OF
q little before sunset, the observer will
see a long and constantly growing
army Of these birds r~etracing their
steps, or rather relying their tracks,
eonthwegtward to their nightly homo
in Arlington. The numbers Of this
migratory flock, as we'll as the regular,
periodical character of their diurna!
fight, produce a spectacle Of more
than ordinary interest. Their going
and coming has attracted q great deal
Of notice and been a subject Of gcien'
tifc inquiry for a number of years. Al
a matter Of fact ever since the Poto.
mac Valley was settled the ancestors
Of this great army Of crows occupied
the woods and wooded hills along the
river in Alexandria and Fairfax Coun.
ties. Before tbs war they occupied
an immense strip Of pines above
Georgetown, but the woods were de
stroyed during the var and the mod
ern CROWS were obliged to forsake the
home Of their ancestors and seek their
nightly refuge in the natural groves
about the ancestral home Of the Lees.
The crow is not the enemy Of the
farmer in this section Of the country,
| but rather his friend. It is true that
he will follow the grain sower and
pick up a small portion Of the SEED
| which is sowA, but the crow has ar
appetite for animal food, andis always
on the lookout for cut worms and
other enemies of the farmer. Thou
[ sands of these crows, in their fight
towards the Chesapeake in the early
! morning, stop on their way, like
gtragglers and foragers from an army.
and settle down upon the farms TO,
half an hour or more, during which
period they gather up millions O.
worms Of various kinds, and relieve
| the farmer of them, while at the same
time they satisfy their own appetites.
They are helpful fellows, r these
crows, and the farmers in this country
do not put up scare-crows, as they d.
in many portions of the United States
The river men, that is those who
dwell along the banks Of the Potomac,
or who are engaged in boating o. fish.
ing, generally see the entrance gates
to the National Cemetery grow blacl
in the evening as the wearied predatory
peripatetics settle there. The reader
| probably knows that at each of the
entrances to the National Cemetery
iron gates are hanged from immense
granite pillars, surmounted each with
a slab bearing the chisel name Of
some Of our great military leaders.
The pillars were formerly used in the
porticos of the old War Department
building. They can be seen with the
naked eye from the Washington side 0:
the river, and when the crows settle
there-whole platoons of them-tht
entrance gates appear to be draped il
mourning, while the trees are dark
ened into a semblence of crepe dress
ing, as though all animate nature were
ready to weep for the fallen brave
men and true who slumber there.
In the springtime and fall especially
when their numbers are greatest, thu
spectacle presented is truly imposing
Gradually the black speck s~ettlin;
upon the slab which crowns the pilla
grows before the vision, and as tn
advance guard covers the gate the re
mainder of the army, waving thei
black flags, sweep shrieking over ant
beyond until every leaf is obscured
almost wholly, by the amazing host.
A signal officer at Fort Meyer say
that these black soldiers of the air arr
we'll drilled, observant OF rules ant
subject to discipline. Their dali,
course is regular when observed in it
entirety; although seemingly irregu
lar and ragged to the casual observer