One afternoon the morning bringer of the cat food opened the gate & looked up to see a rather ordinary crow on top of the gate arch. He flew to a middle branch of the large tree on the side of the yard and meowed. Or rather he make a sound sort of like a meow, a loud mew mew.
"What's this? Are you are cat bird now," the human asked- without expecting an answer.
"What's a cat bird," thought the crow, called Dorian. He had thought his practical joke was rather clever and had hoped to confuse and startle the human, not to be criticized.
"Ha, ha, a cat bird," commented Agnes, the other crow already in the tree.
Dorian had not seen her, and now he was annoyed, mostly with himself.
"I should have been more careful. Now she is sure to tell everyone."
Dorian needn't have worried, for Agnes was such a notorious liar and gossip that none of the other crows would believe her. She tried to tell them when they all returned for cat food in the early evening, and again the next morning. But they weren't having any of it.
"Agnes, you've really got to stop making up stories and focus on finding a nice crow to settle down with," advised Blacqui, an older crow who also happened to be Agnes's aunt. "Dorian himself might be interested in you, if you hadn't pulled this latest stunt."
"I'm not interested in Dorian," she replied huffily. "What would he do, teach our fledglings to meow instead of caw?" she thought to herself.
Still, she had to admit that Dorian was rather handsome, and usually clever (except when meowing), and, most importantly, he was available and she did need a mate.
Unfortunately for Agnes, Dorian was determined to ignore her. He ignored her no matter what she did. She tried to start conversations, even went so far as to apologize, but he was too proud to even look toward her, though he did think she was kinda cute, now that she had given up gossiping. He continued to ignore her until many of the crows in the area had migrated south for the winter and Agnes was ready to give up and join another group. Then she got an idea.
Agnes listened carefully to the cats and practiced and practiced. She sat in the yard tree and did almost nothing but practice. Her attempts were laughable and usually sounded as though she were having a coughing fit, but sometimes a ma-ew ma-ew was produced. All of the cats and all of the other crows knew what she was trying to do; that is everyone but Dorian.
"Why is she doing that?" Dorian asked aloud. Blacqui, who was completely exasperated by this point in time, turned to him and said, "She likes you and is trying to get your attention, you dunderhead."
Thoroughly embarrassed, Dorian flew off and returned with a large berry. "This is for you," he said to Agnes, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk."
Later that evening, the morning bringer of the cat food paused at her open window and furrowed her brow, "What's this? More of them meowing now?" she asked.
Dorian and Agnes just laughed softly to themselves and drew closer together.
Author's Notes:
Romance between crows is far less complex than between humans. It's never a good idea to change who you are just to attract someone. Be authentic, keep growing and you will have the best chance of finding the right person for you.
Recently, a crow was heard in this tree mimicking the cats, the neighbor's dog, and saying hello. I have no idea where it learned this.
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A "Murder" of Crows & Other Stories
Short Story"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows." -Henry Ward Beecher. These connected short stories are based on my observations of the crows which sometimes live in my yard, the outdoor cats which I fed t...
