The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-07
TOO MuoH FOR A CROW.
The Bird Was Suspicious of a Bone
Swinging in the Wind.
From the Century Magazine.


From the Century Magazine.
The crow has fine manners. He always
has the walk and air of lord of the soil.
One morning put out some fresh meat
upon the snow near my study window.
Presently crow came and carried it off,
and allghted with it upon the ground in
the vineyard. While he was eating of il,
another crow came, and. aighting a few
yards away, slowly walked up to within a
few feet of his fellow, and stopped. | ak
peCted TO see q struggle over the food, as
would have been the case with domestic
fowls or animals. Nothing of the kind
The feeding crow stopped eating, re
garded the other for moment made a
gesture or two, and few away. Then the
second crow went up to the food and pro-
Ceeded to take his share. Presently the
first crow came back, when each seized a
portion of the food, and few away with
IT, Their mutual respect and good will
seemed perfect Whether it really was
so in our human sense, or whether it was
simply an illustration of the instinct of
mutual support which seems to prevail
among gregarious birds, l know not.
/ Birds that are solitary in their habits,
| like hawks or woodpeckers, behave quite
| Inherently toward one another in the
presence of their food.
| The lives of wild creatures revolve
| about two facts or emotions, appetite and
/ fear Their keenness in discovering food
and in discovering danger are alike re-
| markable But man can nearly always
outwit them, because while his percep-
! lions are not so sharp, his power of re-
! lection is much greater. His cunning
carries a great deal further The crow
will quickly discover anything that looks
| like a trap or snare set to catch him. but
| it takes him long time to see through
/ 81 m
above stated, sometimes place meat on
the snow in front OF my study window to
attract him.
On one occasion, after a couple of crows
| had come to expect something there
daily l suspended a piece of meat by a
string from branch of the tree Just over
the spot where | usually placed the food
A crow soon discovered it, and came into
! the tree to see what it meant. His sus-
picions were aroused. There was some
design in that suspended meat, evidently.
1t was trap to catch him. He surveyed
1t from every near branch He pecked
aud pried, and was bent on penetrating
! the mystery. He few to the ground, and
walked about and surveyed it from all
| sides. Then he took long walk down
about the vineyard as if in hope of hit
ting upon some clew. Then he came to
the tree again, and tired first one eye,
/ then the other, upon it; then to the
| ground beneath; then he went away and
came back; then his fellow came, and
i they both squinted and investigated and
then disappeared. Chikadees and wood
peckers would alight upon the meat and
| peck it swinging in the wind, but the
crows were fearful Does this show re-
Election! Perhaps ii does, but / look
| upon IL rather as that instinct of fear and
cunning so characteristic of the crow.
Two days passed thus; every morning
the crows came and surveyed the sus-
pended meat from all points in the tree,
and then went away. The third day l
/ placed a large bone on the snow benea tn
the suspended morsel. Presently one of
the crows appeared in the tree and bent
his eye upon the tempting bone. THE
| mystery deepens,f he seemed to say to
| himself. But after half an hours inves-
tigatlon and after approaching several
| times within few feet of the food upon
the ground, he seemed to conclude there
was no connection between it and the
piece hanging by the string. So he finally
| walked up to it and fell to picking IL,
Tipping his wings all the time, as a sign
of his watchfulness. He also turned up
his eye, momentarily, to the piece in the
air above, as if it might be a sward of
| Damocles, ready to fall upon him.
Soon his mate came and alighted on
low branch of the tree. The feeding
crow regarded MIN moment, ana then
flew up to his side, as if to give him a
turn at the meat. But ne refused to run
the risk. He evidently looked upon the
whole thing as a delusion and a snare,
and presently went away and his mate
followed him Then ! placed the bone in
one of the main forks of the tree, but
the crows kept at a safe distance from
it. Then put it back to the ground, but
they grew more and more suspicious
some evil intent i'll it all, they thought.
Finally. dog carried off the bone, and
the crows ceased to visit the tree.
The Guv'nor's Grand Shooting.
Last summer, in Northern Wisconsin, says
the Chicago Record, party of three con
sisting OF the guv'nor" "Reddy" and the