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One of the Very Few Instances of a Bird with a Split Tongue. Everybody knows that the Ameri can crow can talk freely in his own language, but that he can also learn to talk good English is a fact not known even to many of his best ac quaintances. It is not certain that every crow can do this. But some can. Out West there is a common black crow that has learned a good deal of English without any direct effort to teach him. This particular crow lives in Cameron, Mo., and belongs to young McGee, the son of a carpenter. The bird is in the habit of greeting various persons whom he meets in the streets with a loud voice, though aside from a few words his vocabulary is little known to the ordinary citizen. At home he is very talkative, and his owner is sometimes compelled to in sist that young crows shall be seen and not heard. Rev. J. Hibbard Langville, preach er and ornithologist of Western New York, published a book in 1884 in which he tells the following about a Kansas crow: “An Indian used to visit the mission, bringing with him one of these birds tamed, with the tongue split and able to mimic distinct ly quite a number of words, as also to originate little sentences of his own. During one of these Indian visits a patch of land was being plowed. The crow, With his bright red ribbon trail ing behind him on the ground, was busy picking up insects, and some lit tle girls, were trying to ‘catch ‘the ends of ribbon. Just,as their tiny hands were about to grasp the streamers the wily crow would spring forward, and, looking backward, would tauntingly sag, ‘You didn't, did you? This is certainly an inter ac count of a bird, but the talking crow of Cameron is more interesting by far, because he is alive today and has a town full of witnesses to his clever ness. One gray-haired woman relates that she was leaving home on a cer tain afternoon when she heard a cry of “Grandma! grandma!” She looked everywhere, thinking that her little grandson had come, but presently she saw the crow peeping mischievously from the housetop. Further evidence of the crowd's speech is from the mem bers of the North Side School. He is fond of the children, and is always on hand when they are outdoors, but the janitor says the bird is never to be seen about there on Saturday or Sun day. He certainly talks, and talks dis tinctly, though his list of words was confined to a few names. When vis ited at his home, however, the bird talked quite after the fashion of the most skillful parrots, who, it is said, never do their best in strange com pany. He called members of the fam ily “pa,” “ma,” “Nora” and “Homer.” His question, “What for?” was inter posed in the conversation with laugh able results. He called the chickens to their food, clucking like a hen; he mewed like a kitten. It was said that he enjoyed a dog fight above all else, encouraged it at the beginning by shouting, “Hi-hi-hi!” and adding fuel by spirited ejaculations of “Lick ’em!” and “Lick ’em!” He plays with children, but fights if they disturb him. He will be 4 years old this spring, so the youth says who took him from a nest in the woods. He lived upon bread and meat in his bobyhood, and the diet evidently agreed with him well.—Buffalo Ex press.
Newspaper Details
Osceola Record
Osceola, Nebraska, US
Thu, Mar 23, 1905
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 11 Sep 2026
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