The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-02-04
Exploits of a Crow.


VI
sixty years ago" said an old resident of
Bell Meadow, ~ picked young crow out
of the mud in Tamarack swamp, where he
had tumbled out of the nest before he was
old enough to fly. l named him Abe and
tanned him, and he developed into the
brightest bird l ever saw. Like all tame
crows. Abe was mischievous and inquisi-
tive: There was knothole in the floor Of
our cistern, and the crow couldn't find out
what was under it, although he tried very
hard.
"Several times day Abe flew down to
the creek, hunted up pebble and carried
it in his bill TO the floor of the cistern,
where he dropped it through the knothole
The instant he let the pebble drop he would
put his ear close to the hole and listen.
He could hear the pebble strike the water,
and the noise out of his sight excited his
curiosity so much that he dropped half
bushel of pebbles into the cistern before he
gave up.
"Abe accompanied me on all my hunt
ing trips in the fall and winter, and saw me
kill five or six wolves, half doz en- Wild
cats and several deer The woods were
full of deer, and there were so many wolves
that we couldn't keep any sheep. Abe
took great liking to deer and rabbits, but
he hated wolves and wildcats, seeming to
understand that they were destructive and
dangerous. One afternoon, the summer
that he was year old, Abe flew into our
little clearing and cawed and fiuttered about
as if he wanted me to leave my work.
Il knew the crow had seen something
tina. displeased him, and so | picked up
two rifles and told him to go ahead, just to
see what he would do. He went squalling
through the air toward Bell Meadow brook,
and when he alighted on.a tree he kept
yelling and looking down in the ravine. |
looked, too, little expecting to see what |
did. A pair of wolves were tearing at a
doe they had pounced on and pulled down.
| killed them both before they got three
leaps from the doe, and when Abe saw that
they couldn't move he cawed and croaked
as though he was glad.
THE next winter there were three feet
and half of snow on the level, and we
had to wear snowshoes to get around.
While was splitting wood near the house
one cold morning the crow came sailing
and squalling to the settlement from the
direction of Lake Henry. He was excited
about something, and he perched on the
log and went to tapping his wings and
dancing up and down. | understood him
well enough to know that he had seen
something that he didn't like the looks OF
up in the woods toward the lake, so | and
my brother and cousin put on our snow
shoes, shouldered five loaded rifles and
started into the woods, Abe leading the
way and yelling
ale led us to the lake, where We saw a
sight that | shall never forget. In space
where the wind had blown the snow from
the ice a flock of seven deer had been cor
nered by pack of five wolves. The deer
couldn't get out on account of the deep
snow, and the wolves had killed three OF
them when we got there. While we were
blazing away at the brutes the crow flew
overhead and shouted his approval. We
killed the whole pack, and Abe felt so good
that he rolled over ON the crust several
times.
'One day in the spring the crow saw a
fisher catch rabbit and carry it to hole
in Eastwood tree, thirty feet from the
ground. My brother and were chopping
near by, and Abe squalled around till he
attracted our attention, when he flew up t.
the hole where the fisher was concealed
We chopped the Eastwood down, and the
fisher skipped out and ran up hemlock
tree to where the leaves were so thick VT
couldn't see it. Abe flew up, alightec
above the fisher and began to squall, ane
squirting through the foliage below him
could see enough of the fisher to fire at
l banged away, and down came Mr. Fishel
with a bullet in his head Abe fairl,
laughed when the fisher tumbled.
"One morning found six pullets on thu
floor of the hen shaptyi A mink had killed
them, and that night set two steel trap
and put one of the pullets between. Il
the morning mink had its fore feet il
one of the traps and one Of its hind feet il
the other. Abe tagged me in, and whel
he saw the mink struggling to get out h
ran up in front Of it and began to yell ii
its face. | let the crow torment it, an'
while my back was turned the mink caugh
Abe by the neck and bit him so hard tina
he died in few minutes"
ITO SAVE MONEY!