St. Paul daily globe., 1896-02-03
WALLACE BROKE UP THE Roosr.
How IndiaEa1s Novelist Performed
a Great Strategic Achievement.

General Lew Wallace relates an in
cident which shows to a remarkable
degree the wonderful sagacity and
memory Of blackbirds, says the In
dianapolis Sentinel.
AT my home over in Crawfords-
ville," said the general, I'VE have a
large number of tall trees on the lawn,
and in the course of time these trees
became the roosting place at certain
times of the year for hundreds Of thou
sands of blackbirds. They came in
great Clouds and in spite of all I could
do they refused to leave. Of course,
they were great nuisance, and I was
In despair as to some means of getting
clear of them. l stood for days with
my gun firing into them of an even
ing and killing hundreds of them, but
the rest did not seem to be sufficiently
struck by fear or grief to want to part
company with me and my hospitality.
l then devised new scheme
procuring number of Roman can
dies one evening, 1 lighted them one
by one after dark, when the bows of
the trees were bent low with the
weight of the creaking birds, and I
poured the candles into the top of the
trees at great rate. The sudden in
novation startled the birds as nothing
had ever done before, and they became
panic stricken. That night l was free
of them.
THE next evening, however, the
habit of returning there was stronger
than fear and they began coming in
by thousands as the evening ap-
preached. After dark I began with
another volley Of candles, and the
birds began to realize that there was
determined bombardment in prog
ress. They fled precipitately, and the
third evening only a few returned. A
few last shots put them to flight and
1 was troubled no more.
But what do you think those birds
did? My dividing fence runs between
the trees on my property and the trees
on the property of my neighbor, which
are equally high and equally suitable
for home for the blackbirds When
the birds were driven from my lot thew
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 these 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 com
ing, but not a bird settles upon a tree
lHdl lS vi my Sue Oh the dividing
fence.
Another strange thing is that if any
one of an evening stands in my lawn
and makes slight noise, as slapping
his hands, there will be the widest
comanotion among the birds in the
neighborhood trees. They become rest
less and almost panic-stricken. If.
however, the same person crosses the
fence and stands directly under them
and makes tWiPQ
pay no attention whatever to him. He
can even shoot up into them without
driving them from their perches.
II have wondered several times lust
what impression those birds have of
me and my property that they have so
decidedly given me the cold shoulder.
They know every tree that is on my
lawn, and will settle by thousands on
the other side of the fence within
few feet of the dividing line OF
course, I have not bothered them over
there. as they were not my guests