a murder of crows

[Beowolff]

from another forum i frequent at odd times... on the issue of groups of animal names.


Originally posted by Billy Pryce:
A murder of crows, I like that. I've also heard them described as a parlaiment of crows. Sinister creatures aren't they.
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well, not exactly sinister, but darn close. the indians (and other ancient cultures) considered them busybodies... always hanging around poking their noses (beaks) into other peoples' affairs... then possibly reporting back to the 'wrong' people (evil shamen or witchdoctors) or mayhaps even directly to evil spirits or the devils/gods themselves.

they also are first rate thieves... many times swooping down to steal bright, shiney objects to carry off to their nest.

i once had a friend that had a pet crow that lived outside, he had been trained to talk (parrot-like) and could say a few words (Daddy for instance, which he would repeat over and over and over...gahhh!) and could even do a few short sentences. when he eventually died, me and my pal climbed the tree that had his nest in it, and we found a virtual cache of stolen artifacts. coins of all kinds, a couple of zippo cigarette lighters, a ring, a tiny child's mirror, a couple of bracelets and a broken gold chain... and assorted small toys taken no doubt from neighborhood kids. (there was even a small, stuffed Easter bunny, a tiny one obviously made for a baby...all frazzy from dampness and sun-faded...and well-worn from handling or carrying around.)

you know, finding that small horde of treasures made me feel sort of funny, sad a little bit... to think that the poor creature (in an almost human-like way) wanted small things to look at, play with, and admire. all of us neighborhood kids had chunked a few rocks at the annoying thing on occasion, and at that moment, i was VERY sorry that i had done so.

i never did anything like that again. so in a way, that crow taught me a really and truly valuable lesson. respect life. in all its forms.

Beowolff

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anyone with similiar experiences or thoughts?

[Guest]

Me and mates used to get up early in the morning ('bout 6am) and set up our traps for the birds. We would have our laundry basket, a roll of string and a sturdy twig. We would tie the string to the twig, prop up the basket with the twig and put a load of broken bread underneath then roll the string out and sit and wait behind a bush.

Once we caught a rook but the blighter was too big and strong that he nearly flew off with the basket on top of him! So we dragged him up to my mates utility room and put him in there for a while to cool off.

He got so pee'd off that he started headbutting the door and the window so we had to let him out.

~No bird was hurt in the springing of my trap~

Thankfully I have grown to respect all of our winged friends like you Beo and am now a lapsed ornithologist.

[:FI:Dex]

Sorry that was me, I didn't log in..

[:FI:Spitsfire]

I like A Crow left of the murder by Incubus

cool story beo, a talking crow!

[:FI:Fenian]

OK... but Succubus....

Ahhh... they get you everytime

Study your demonology