The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-11
A GREAT ARMY OF CROWS
THEY HAUNT TEE NATIcNAl
CEMETERY AT ARLINGTON.

TTis not generally known, but it is
q fact, nevertheless, that the great
National Cemetery at Arlington,
near Washington City, is inhab-
tied every night by an army of q mil
lion or more of feathered natives OF
Virgins. Every morning, just before
daybreak, the soldiers Of Fort Meyer,
nearby, notice stir in the tall tree
tops, in the branches and on the ex-
treme limbs of the primeval fores'
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 correspondent of the Phlla-
delphia Times. The morning air is
stirred With the fapping of a million
of wings and with ight-pitched notes,
IS they are sung by the army of crows.
Like an army with banners, well
trained, mystic, wonderful, these den.
izens of the forest rise in graceful
fight, and with the ightness and
grscefulness of gyratory curves, they
fall into the line of march with tre-,
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
ital, the army of Potomac crows
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 the
rear guard has left Arlington.
Late in the afternoon, just about OF
a little before sunset, the observer will
see long and constantly growing
army of these birds retracing their
steps, or rather relying their tracks,
sonthwestward to their nightly home
in Arlington. The numbers OF this
migratory flock, as well as the regular,
periodical character of their diurnal
fight, produce a spectacle of more
than ordinary interest. Their going
and coming has attracted great deal
of notice and been a subject of sclen.
tifc inquiry for number Of years. As
matter of fact ever since the Poto
mac Valley wss 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 the war they occupied
an immense strip of pines above
Georgetown, but the woods were de-
stroyed during the war 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. 1t is true that
he will follow the grain sower anc
pick up small portion of the seec
which is sown, but the crow has az
appetite for animal food, and is always
on the lookout for cut worms anc
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
stragglers and foragers from an army.
and settle down upon the farms fo1
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 appetltes.
They are helpful fellows, are these
crows, and the farmers in this country
do not put up scare-crows, as they dc
in many portions of the United States.
The river men, that is those who
dwell along the banks Of the Potomac.
OF who are engaged in boating Or fish.
ing, generally see the entrance gates
to the National Cemetery grow black
in the evening as the wesried 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 chiseled name Of
some oil 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 fror the Washington side Of
the river, and when the crows settle
there-Thole platoons Of them-the
entrance gates appear to be draped in
mourning, while the trees are dark
ened in$o semblance 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 spring time and fall especially,
when their numbers are greatest, the
spectacle presented is truly imposing.
Gradually the black speck settling
upon the slab which crowns the pillar
grows before the vision, and as the
advance guard covers the gate the re-
msinder of the army, waving their
black flags, sweep shrieking over and
beyond until every leaf is obscured,
almost wholly, by the amazing host.
A signal officer at Fort Meyer says
that these black soldiers Of the cir az,
,vall dri11a5 obServanE ot r.,lrS 90;
subject to discipline. Their da::::
course is regular when observed IN Il.
entirety; although seemingly ir-eg"-
lar and ragged to the casual observer.
They travel in squads and company,
which have military cohesion, Ell he
ing related to each other III piavools,-
regiments and brigades. Their disc;
pline is rigid and their tactics as per.
faoE oc that of their hnn,oD ,roh1tvi,as