244 



CORVID^. 



birds are laying their eggs, and when the lambing season 

 is at its height. Then, too, its habits are most fully 

 developed. Its young are clamorous for food, and will not 

 be satisfied with a little. So the old bird sallies forth to 

 scour the districts least frequented by man, and makes 

 every living thing its prey, provided that by force or 

 cunning it can overpower it. If Grouse are plentiful, it 

 is said that one pair, what with stealing the eggs and 



THE CARRION CROW. 



carrying off the young, will in a season destroy more of 

 them than the keenest sportsman. It will pounce on 

 the leveret and bear it screaming from the side of its 

 mother. It watches sheep which have strayed from the 

 fold, and mangles the newly-born lambs, and even the 

 ewes themselves, carrying them piecemeal to the young 

 ones at home. If mowers are at work, the wary birds 

 alight on some lofty tree, taking care to keep at a safe 



