Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-01-30

The olaekblrds Knew Where His Fence
Was.

Was.
General Lew Wallace yesterday re-
lated an Incident which shows to re-
markable extent the wonderful saga
city and memory OF bluckbirds.
AT my home over In Cruwfords-
ville," said the General. I'VE have a
large number OF tall trees on the lawn.
and In course Of time these trees be-
came the roostlng place ut certain times
of the year for hundreds OF thousands
Of blackbirds. They came In great
black clouds, and In spite Of all that
could do they refused to leave. or
course. they were great nuisance, and
was In despair as to some means Of
getting clear Of them. l stood for two
days with my gun firing into them Of
an evening and killing hundreds Of
them. hut the rest did not seem to be
sufficiently struck by fear or grief to
want to part company with me and my
hospitality. / then devised new
scheme.
procuring number OF Roman can
dies one evening lighted them one
by one after dark, when the boughs
OF the trees bent low with the weight
of the croaking birds. and poured the
candles into the tops of the trees ut n
great rate. The sudden innovation
startled the birds as nothing had ever
done before. and they became panic
stricken. That night was free of
them.
.,rhe next evening. however. the
habit Of returning there to roost was
stronger than fear. and they began
coming In by thousands as the evening
approached. After dark l began with
another volley of candles. and the
birds began to realize that there was II
determined bombardment In progress.
They fed precipitately. and the third
evening only few returned. A few
last shots put them to fight. and was
troubled no more.
"But what do you think those birds
did? My dividing fence runs betweeI
the trees Oh my property and the trees
on the property of my neighbOr, whicl,
are equally high and equally suitable
for home for the blackbirds. When
the birds were driven from my lots
they flew over across the dividing
fence to the trees Of my neighbOr and
settled. There was no bombardment
over there, and they have stayed there
ever since.
This was long time ago, but never
since the last Roman candle was fired
into them has one of those birds set
tied on one of my trees They are
'tabooed' as effectually as though they
were on fire. The great clouds of birds
each morning and evening fly directly
over my trees going and coming, but
not bird settles upon n tree that is on
my side of the dividing fence.
Another strange thing is that if any
one OF an evening stands in my lawn
and makes a slight noise. as slappin.
his hands. there will be the widest
commotion among the birds i'm tho
neighboring trees. They become rest.
less and almost panic-stricken. II.
however, the same person crosses the
fence and stands directly under them
and makes twice as much noise they
pa. uO dtttIitlOu WudttNtI W HliIl. III
can even shoot up into them without
driving them from their perches.
Il have wondered several times just
what impression these birds have Of
me and my property that they have SC
decidedly given me the cold shoulder.
They know every tree that is on my
lawn, and will settle within few feet
of the dividing line. OF course. / have
not bothered them over there, as they
were not my guests"