In a message dated 10/24/99 6:35:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
northwestmom at yahoo.com writes:

> The bird appeared to be
> a merlin, although it was moving so fast the whole
> time, it was hard to tell. I suppose it could have
> been a kestrel, but it seemed a bit large for that.

It's even possible it *was* a crow, unless you were able to get a better look.

Our (late) cat once brought in a baby mallard (no idea where he found it).
My folks and my little brother rescued it and took it down to Tumwater Falls
Park to try to release it. Well, according to their report, it toddled
around for several minutes, looking for a family, when down from a tree
swooped a crow, which snatched the duckling and flew off into another tree.
And that was the last anyone saw of the duckling!

--Nick Pharris
Olympia, WA
mailto: NJPharris at aol.com