The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1893-01-21
EXPLOITS OF A CROW.
VERY CLEVER INDEED, BUT HE MET
AN UNTlMELY DEATH

Anecdotes by Man who Saw some
Strange Things Even Though lie Had "a
Cun-The Grow Dlsiiked Certain Kinds
of Animais--He Was n Great Hunter. +
"When this region was nearly all
woods sixty years ago" said an old
resident Of Bell Meadow, 81 picked
young crow out Of the mud in Tamarack 1
swamp, where he had tumbled out of
the nest before he was old enough TO fly.
/ named him Abe and tanned him, and
he developed into the brightest bird ] /
ever saw. Like all tame crows, Abe
was mischievous and inquisitive. There
was llnothole in the floor Of our cistern,
and the crow couldn't find out what was
under it, although he tried very hard.
Several times a day Abe flew down
TO the creek, hunted up a 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 peb
bic 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, ..d h,
saw me kill five or six wolves. half a
dozen wildcats 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 tc
deer and rabbits, but he hated wolves
and wildcats, seeming to understand
that they were destructive and danger.
GUS. One afternoon, the summer that
he was year old, Ab, flew into ouI
little clearing and cawed and Auttered
about as if he wanted mo to leave my
work
II knew the crow had seen something
that displeased him, and SO picked NJ
two rifles and told him to go ahead, just tc
see what he would do. He went squall
ing through the air toward Bell Meadow
brook, and when he alighted ON
he kept yelling and looking down
ravine. looked, too, little expecting tc
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 couldnt
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 happing
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 l and my brother
and cousin put on our snowshoes. shout
dered five loaded rifles and started into
the woods, Abe leading the way and
yelling
He led us To the lake, where we saw
a sight that | shall never forget In a
| space where the wind had blown the
snow from the ice flock of seven deer
had been cornered by Il 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 brntes the crow tew overhead and
shouted ms approval We killed the
whole pack and Abe felt so good that
he rolled over ON tho crust several times.
Zone day in the spring the crow saw
fisher catch a rabbit and carry it 10 a
hole in Eastwood tree, thirty feet from
the ground. My brother and ! were
| CuopplHB near ~ anu AUG sQudlleu