Wood Wanderings

by Winthrop Packard

In return the crows stole bright nails, screws, and such small tools as they could get hold of. They got away with my pearl-handled pocketknife on the same principle, and though we often hunted for their hoard we never found it. Their doings were often amusing to the bystander, but more often vexatious and sometimes outrageous. I have still a vivid mental picture of good old Grandfather Totter on his way home by the path in the field, and stalled, because he could no longer use his cane to hobble with, but had to have it to fight off Box and Cox.

Bird neighbors did not love Box and Cox any better than did human neighbors, and their presence kept kingbirds and robins, bluebirds and sparrows all in a state of great nervous tension, though I am bound to say that I never knew the crows to disturb their nests or young. In fact, as long as I had them, Box and Cox showed no signs of learning to forage for themselves in any way. They depended absolutely on mankind for food, and if man was not kind they went hungry. I think that if I had conscientiously tried to wean them they would have shown ability to take care of themselves, but I never had the courage to try. I did not think the neighborhood would stand the racket.

One day they simply disappeared and I never knew what became of them. Perhaps they suddenly heard and answered the call of the wild. The neighbors had been wild more than once.

Box and Cox were a disappointment. They showed little of either wit or wisdom. They had a small amount of roguishness and a mighty appetite. Such traits as they showed were those of youth; those they lacked might have come with age. Perhaps parent crows teach their young the wisdom which wood-bred birds certainly show. Box and Cox had none of it, or if they had they hid it with the pocketknife and the carpenter’s tools.

On the other hand, the strongest trait of the wood-bred crow is his distrust of man. Instinct, if it works in the crow tribe, should certainly have implanted this distrust in the youthful heads of Box and Cox, but they showed nothing of the sort. And there you have the crow puzzle all over again, for the crow, wild or tame, is a puzzle. Half a hundred of them the other day were congregated about a wood road through the pines, yelling themselves hoarse in the wildest of excitement.

So interested were they that they took no notice of me when I approached, thinking that they had a hawk or owl at bay there and were harrying him. So I walked down the wood road right in amongst them. But there was neither hawk nor owl nor anything else there to account for their excitement. They tore about this empty space, cawing, fluttering, standing erect, alert, and quivering on a limb and gazing wildly at what seemed to be to them very real and very terrible. But it was nothing to me; I could not find so much as a chipmunk stirring there. After a little they chased this terrible nothing on down the road and then across lots into another part of the wood, leaving me gaping and in doubt whether they were just playing a game among themselves, all making believe they saw a monster where there was none, or whether they really could see some woodland bogle that was invisible to my dull eyes and were following him on his way.

Box and Cox may have been among them, and for all I know may later have told the crowd what a queer creature man is when you come to know him as foster-fathered crows have to.

INDEX

[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [V], [W].

[A]
Acorns, [98], [99], [100]
Admiral, red, [5]
Alder, [177], [182]
—— red-berried, [195]
Angleworms, [160]
Anosia plexippus, [117]
Antiopa vanessa, [116]
Apple blossoms, [119], [198]
—— tree, [27], [135], [205]
—— wild, [156]
Arbor vitæ, [39]
Aroostook war, [24]
Ash tree, [96], [133]
Aster, [114]
Azalia, [166]
[B]
Barberry, [184], [185]
Bat, [76], [79], [82]
Bayberry, [111]
Bee, [10]
Beech, [29]
Birch, [29], [34], [35], [74], [75], [83], [92], [93], [126], [127], [133], [143], [165]
—— C. T. U., [92], [94]
Bittern, [60]
Blackberry, [16]
Blackbird, red-winged, [119], [178], [180], [182], [201]
Blueberry, swamp, [164]
Bluebird, [113], [212]
Blue Hills, [110]
Buck, [38]
Buckthorn, [195]
Butterfly, [5], [114], [117]
—— admiral, red, [5]
—— Anosia plexippus, [117]
—— Antiopa vanessa, [116]
—— Hunters’, [115]
—— monarch, [114], [116], [117]
—— painted lady, [5], [115]
—— Pyrameis, [117]
—— Pyrameis atalanta, [5]
—— Pyrameis cardui, [5], [116]
—— sulphur, [114]
[C]
Catbird, [181], [182], [183]
Cedar, [143]
—— berries, [113]
—— pasture, [121]
—— red, [113], [206]
—— white, swamp, [113]
Cemetery Hill, [173]
Cherries, [16]
Chestnut, [67], [68], [69], [71], [75], [76], [79], [83], [95], [96], [98], [99], [109], [155]
—— bur, [77]
—— leaves, [83]
—— tree, [76], [77]
Chickadee, [3], [4], [173]
Chipmunk, [214]
Christmas, [195]
—— tree, [35]
Clam, [41]
Clintonia borealis, [15], [16], [17]
Clover, [6]
Cocoanut, [19]
Coon, [174]
Cowbird, [188], [189], [190], [191]
Coyote, [38]
Crow, [40], [197], [198], [199], [201], [202], [203], [204], [205], [207], [211], [212], [213], [214], [215]
—— nest, [143]
Crustaceæ, [51]
Currant, [17]
—— fairy, [18]
Cyprepedium acaule, [35]
[D]
Deer, [27], [37], [38]
Dendragapus canadensis, [35]
Doe, [38]
Duck, [52], [53], [62]
—— black, [54]
—— “spirit,” [57]
—— teal, blue-winged, [48], [49]
[E]
Elder, [177]
Elm, [133]
Epilobium angustifolium, [11]
Erechthites, [11]
—— hieracifolium, [9]
[F]
Fawn, [38]
Fern, cinnamon, [184]
—— wood, [88]
Fir, [23], [29], [32], [33], [34], [35], [37]
Fireweed, [10], [11], [12]
Fish, flying, [110]
Flicker, [40]
Fox, [38], [157], [174]
Frog, [174], [208]
[G]
Glow-worm, [20]
Goldenrod, [114]
Goliaths, [28]
Grape, [74], [114]
Grapevine, wild, [187], [206]
Grass, purple wood, [73], [82]
Greece, [27]
Grebe, pied-billed, [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [62]
Greek, [191]
Grouse, Canada, [3]
—— ruffed, [35], [37]
Gulliver, [28]
[H]
Hackmatack, [39]
Hawk, [38], [214]
Hazel nuts, [155]
Hedgehog, [157]
“Hell-diver,” [55]
Hemlock, [121]
Hickory, [79], [80], [82], [88], [109], [153], [154], [155]
Hob, [8]
Holly berries, [195]
Huckleberry, black, [164]
Hunters’ butterfly, [115]
[I]
Ignis fatuus, [90]
Indian, [30]
—— summer, [152]
[J]
Jay, blue, [111]
Joepye weed, [177]
June berries, [156]
Juniper, [125], [126]
[K]
Katahdin, [23]
Kimball, George, [33]
Kingbird, [201], [202], [204], [205], [212]
[L]
Lady’s slipper, [15], [16]
Leprachauns, [13]
Lilac, [82]
—— purple, [134]
—— white, [134]
Liliputians, [28]
Locusts, [103]
Loon, [62]
[M]
Macwahoc-Kingman road, [29]
Maple, [34], [89], [91], [133], [136], [137]
—— red, [94], [96]
—— Norway, [94], [97], [135]
—— silver-leaved, [94]
—— swamp, [89], [90], [93], [94]
—— white, [94]
“Mast,” [100], [101]
Milkweed, [177], [178], [186]
Mistletoe, [195]
Mitchella, [17]
Monarch, [114], [116], [117]
Mouse, field, [183]
[N]
Norse Sagas, [46]
Nuthatch, [176], [177]
[O]
Oak, [97], [98], [101], [102], [103], [133], [181], [182]
—— black, [98], [99], [101], [103]
—— black, “mast,” [101]
—— red, [103]
—— scarlet, [103]
—— scrub, [103], [110]
—— white, [98], [99], [100], [101], [103]
Oak, white, “mast,” [101]
Oliver Twist, [209]
Orchid, [15]
Owl, [214]
—— barred, [40]
—— screech, [174]
[P]
Painted lady, [5], [115]
Palm, [19]
Partridge, [14], [157], [158], [162]
—— berries, [14], [16], [17]
—— birch, [35], [36]
—— spruce, [35], [36]
Patten Road, [23], [24], [27]
Pear tree, [35]
Petrel, [47]
Pine, [15], [32], [114], [174], [197], [206], [214]
—— pitch, [5], [121], [122], [123], [125], [126], [127]
—— pumpkin, [29]
—— white, [120], [125]
“Piney Home,” [33]
Plover, [62]
—— piping, [51]
—— ring-necked, [51]
—— yellow-leg, [47], [48], [49]
Poa serotina, [58]
Pokeberry, [13]
Pokeweed, [12]
Porcupine, [27], [157]
Porzana carolina, [59]
Proteus, [9]
Pyrameis, [117]
—— atalanta, [5]
—— cardui, [5], [116]
[Q]
Queen Mab, [17]
[R]
Rabbit, jack, [38]
Rail, Carolina, [57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62]
Raspberry, [16]
Rivers, Mattawamkeag, [29]
—— Moluncus, [29], [30], [33]
—— Macwahoc, [29], [33]
—— Orinoco, [58]
—— Amazon, [58]
Robin, [111], [112], [113], [195], [196], [197], [198], [200], [201], [212]
[S]
Sandpiper, spotted, [49], [51]
Sage-brush, [38]
“Seasons,” by Thomson, [136]
Shadbush, [156]
Skunk, [157]
Smilacina bifolia, [17]
South African mines, [74]
Sparrows, [212]
—— English, [190], [191]
Spruce, [32], [34], [35], [36], [37], [39]
—— cat, [29], [33]
—— black, [33]
—— timber, [33]
—— white, [33]
Squirrel, [69], [70], [72], [73], [144], [152], [154], [155]
—— gray, [70], [72], [79], [80], [81], [82]
—— red, [67], [68], [70], [72], [143], [144], [183]
Sulphur butterfly, [114]
Sumac, [82]
[T]
Teal, blue-winged, [48], [49], [54]
Telia polyphemus, [78], [83]
Thoreau, [26]
Toad, tree, [174]
Totter, Grandfather, [211]
Trillium, [19], [20]
Triton, [9]
[V]
Vikings, [47]
Vireo, [187]
Virgin’s bower, [177]
[W]
Warbler, [112], [188], [189]
—— myrtle, [112]
—— yellow, [184], [185], [186], [187], [190], [191]
Willow, [97]
—— herb, [11]
Witch hazel, [114], [118]
—— blooms, [120]
—— nuts, [118]
Woodchuck, [6], [7], [8]
Woodcock, [159], [160], [161], [162]
Wood mice, [18]
Woodpecker, golden-winged, [39], [40]
—— partridge, [114]
Wordsworth, [9], [136]
Wrights, [41]