. Bird lore . very fair mimic; he couldcluck like a hen, gabble and hiss like geese, and if several people weretalking together in his hearing he would retire to another room and thereimitate them by uttering a succession of guttural sounds in different notesprecisely like the voices of two or more persons conversing in low tones. Nettle and King Cole were the best of friends, and, when the Crow wasnot in his mischievous mood, they would play together by the hour. Nettlebore his teasing more good-naturedly than did the misanthropic Mawther, King Cole: A Biography 157 but was often oblif^ed to
. Bird lore . very fair mimic; he couldcluck like a hen, gabble and hiss like geese, and if several people weretalking together in his hearing he would retire to another room and thereimitate them by uttering a succession of guttural sounds in different notesprecisely like the voices of two or more persons conversing in low tones. Nettle and King Cole were the best of friends, and, when the Crow wasnot in his mischievous mood, they would play together by the hour. Nettlebore his teasing more good-naturedly than did the misanthropic Mawther, King Cole: A Biography 157 but was often oblif^ed to defend herself, nevertheless. The little do^ mij^htoften be seen runninj^ about with the Crow balanced cleverly on her would carry him in this way all over the farm. Sometimes her littlecurled-over tail with a temptinj^ tuft of hair at the end would prove toomuch for Kinj^ Cole, and the ungrateful rascal would stretch out his headand slyly tweak it. To dislodge him Nettle would promptly roll over, but. YOUNG CROWFrom nature, by E. G. Tabor was no sooner on her feet again than the Crow would be in his place andready for another tweak. I suppose I have seen this absurd performancerepeated a dozen times before Nettle could make her escape. The Crow was a most incorrigible thief, and made way with any numberof trinkets, etc., during his lifetime, many of which we never found. Likethe Magpie, which 1 believe is a first cousin to the Crow, he would steal, andhide in all sorts of places, any bright-colored or sparkling thing that took 158 Bird-Lore his fancy. Sometimes he would bury his finds, at other times drop them downa crack, chink or knot-hole in the floor—anywhere, in fact, where he couldfrequently go and peep at them, always doing so with the greatest air of se-crecy. 1 remember the first collection we came across. We were playingone day near a pile of wood, when Nettle, who was basking in the sun andplaying idly with the Crow, suddenly jumped up and began sniffing
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
