Black Spirit: The Way of the Crow

by Laurie Lacy

Crows, like people, are not always what they seem. In the wild, Black Spirit would have been seen by some as a rowdy, persistent pest; but to artist and naturalist Laurie Lacey, this ordinary crow was a delightful and amusing companion.
Their five-year friendship began when Laurie welcomed the injured bird into his rustic home, where gradually the two learned to adjust to one another. Laurie stopped using the phone in Spirit's presence because it agitated him and Spirit deigned to play games to entertain his friend; Laurie learned to see in the dark so as not to startle his diurnal companion, and Spirit delayed his morning "wake-up" call to allow his late-night benefactor another forty winks.
Black Spirit is an entertaining and eclectic mix of anecdotes, gleaned from Lacey's crow diary, letters from other crow enthusiasts, and facts and folklore from crow literature, warmly supported by the artist's own illuminating ink drawings. It chronicles an unusual and close relationship between two species that usually do not see eye to eye but which in the end illustrates our misconceptions about these ubiquitous, intelligent, and curious birds.

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996