Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1895 — Crows in a Battle. [ARTICLE]

Crows in a Battle.

A daily spectacle at Ridgewood, N. J., is the passing of hundreds of crows over town. They come from the south in the early morning on the way to their feeding grounds and return just at sunset to their regular roosting place. The’ other evening the crows were flying lazily along until suddenly it appeared that some enemy must have come among them, for what looked like a fierce battle began. Instantlj* scores of birds that were well away from the center of disturbance turned about and were soon lost in the whirl of the supposed combatants. Some of the crows would drop nearly to the earth, as it disabled, and then soar and apparently rest high in the air preparatory to a renewal of the excitement. After a time it appeared as if many concluded discretion to be more praiseworthy than valor, or that the game was not worth the candle, and they left the scene in groups of ten or more and continued on their homeward way. The battle, if such it was, was a terrific one. Nearly every crow that passed the tussling ones returned for a few moments to watch the fray, but in hundreds of instances did not engage in it, but made a detour and soared away.