The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-07
CROWS THAT GROW.
4 Flock ~ Them Down In Jersey Say
CawcadoodledOO.

PRINCETON. y. j, Dec. 8 -James Laf-
ferty and Samuel Byles went rabbit hunt
ing last Wednes day in NcFarland's swamp.
up near Rocky Hill They didn't bag any
game and 1t was getting toward dusk when
they came out Of the swamp on the north
and started TO walk along the edge.
The crows were flying in from the fields
for the night, but Lafferty and Byles ddn t
notice them particularly until they got TO
knoll near the road. which is thick with
underbrush and half dead trees. Then
their attention was drawn 70 four birds
perched high up on the limbs OF a weather.
beaten sycamore. The crows. the Rocky
Hill hunters assert. we're actually crow
ing. almost exactly like barnyard cocks
Their notes did not possess as much vol.
ume as those Of full-grown cock. but were
a good deal better sample Of growing than
many young ROSTERS give when they are
learning TO use their pipes
On paper the Grove which Lafferty
and Byles heard cro~rd something like this
Ciw-Ouk-a-doodlt-d do.
II has been noticed that the crows in the
swamp stay in two tlocke, one living in the
,ast end OF the woods and the other in
the west. and II lie thought that the Growing
crows are getting together.
Now that the story, has got around many
incidents also are being recalled which
are thought to have bearing OH the phs-
romeLon. George Fennimore " sshin ri on,
Joe McFarlai.ds colored hired man. tells
Of an incident he saw last summer He
was scattering corn over twenty acre lot
rear the woods so that the crows, instead
Of pulling up the young plaIts and eatirg
the soft kerr els AT the roots, would take the
com on the surface As he was engaged
in the work he saw a cock chasing a crow
across the field. The crow. he said, would
n Hal 4 l.
brown leghorn. would rush after II with
wings spread out, heck eAtei ded al d
feathers ruffied The crow would wait
until the cock got close ard then would
take to its wings again. Each time, as it
sailed off. the rooster would stop and crow,
and each time also the crow would answer
in the cocks own language
1t 10, according TO professor in the
school Of science here, not al all impossible
for crows to crow,
In my opinion said the professor,
suit Of Inherited charac,cris,ies' Il 10 partly
the result Of imitation A bird inherits
lite call note and a strong tender cy TO sing
but 1t builds up it's soig by imitation. IL
the case of the crow the call ote lis its regu-
lar cav To acquire. IN addition TO this,
the cry Of the cock II would probably have
TO have an environment especially adapted
TO the cultivation Of the sounds embodied
in the cry. The Rocky Hill crows. II they
are growing, undoubtedly learned the cry
originally in confinement. Whether their
offspring under natural conditions also
would acquire the cock cry by imitation
| 10 q question that is hard to answer
The professor cited several iI.staEo Gee
that had come der his observation,
where birds had learned their songs and
calls by imitation. one Instance being that
OF two orioles from the came brood that
sang entirely different tunes; another OF a
bluejay that sang like a cardinal; another
OF a duck that initiated the call OF the tur.
key. and fourth of blackbird that crowed
like a bantam cock. The blackbird was
Matched under . hen and when young was
shut up in q barn.