72 CARRION CROW. 



at Monkmoor," away they both fly together. At Leominster the 

 answer is " Portley-moor Lane," " Portley-moor Lane," being a place 

 about two miles from the town. 



The Crow, however, is not so black in character as he is 

 painted. When they are not so numerous as to make food scarce, 

 they do little injury to man. For nine or ten months in the year, 

 as Waterton observes, they are very active for his benefit by the 

 consumption of large quantities of noxious larvae. They destroy 

 also numbers of mice and rats, and act generally as scavengers of 

 the district in devouring the flesh of dead animals that would other- 

 wise pollute the air. 



The fold stands empty in the drowned field, 

 And Crows are fatted with the murrain flock. 



Shakespeare— Jiici. Sum. Night's Dream, II., 1. 



In hieroglyphics a Crow symbolises contention, discord, or 

 strife, though here it may mean equally a Raven, or a Rook. In 

 Howell's Proverbs (1659) it is said that children of distinction 

 among the Greeks and Romans had birds for their amusements, 

 and in their quarrels used to pluck or pull the feathers from each 

 other's pets ; and that hence has arisen the terms of " plucking 

 a Crow " for disputes about trifles. A " Crow to pick " is an 

 explanation to demand, or a disagreeable matter to settle : — 



If you dispute, we must even pluck a Crow about it. 



V Estrange. 



If not, resolve before you go 

 That you and I must pluck a Crow. 



Butler— fi^wdiftros. 



We'll pull that old Crow, my father. 



Dekker— " ^onesi Woman " (1630). 



With country folk the Crow is sometimes used as a symbol of 

 independence. A Herefordshire servant girl who had a good 

 place and was doing well, sent a message to her companion not 

 to be in too great a hurry to get out, for " service was not all 

 golden Crows." "A regular Crow," in the slang dictionary, is 

 equivalent to "a fluke," and means a stroke of good luck ; and "a 

 Crow" means, also, the man who watches whilst his companion 



