Birds of a Banykok Garden. 321 



happens dnriiig the rains). When, in June 1807, part of 

 the King^s pahice was burnt down, the first news I had of it 

 was from the Crows, the sudden cawing of which in the 

 middle of the night induced me to get up to find the cause, 

 before either the fire-bugles sounded or the alarm-guns were 

 discharged. 



Hot weather, rain, and cold weather seem to make no 

 difference to them ; they are always lively, happy-looking, 

 inquisitive, and busy. Unfortunately they are very destruc- 

 tive and of iconoclastic tendencies ; the old carvings in the 

 Wang Na above the gateways and on gable-ends suffer 

 greatly. The Crows break off" projections of plaster or wood, 

 and particularly delight in picking out the bits of glass 

 which are inlaid in the ornamental exterior woodwork of 

 these Siamese buildings ; but to the roofs they do most 

 material damage, pulling out the tiles, apparently in order to 

 hear them clatter and break on the flagstones below. It is 

 most amusing to watch a party of three or four Crows and 

 see what pains they take about their self-imposed work of 

 demolition. In the estimates of the Royal Siamese Museum 

 for next year a special sum has to be inserted for repairing 

 damage done by the Crows. 



The first morning we occupied our house Ave threw out 

 food for the birds, and a flock of Crows came to get what 

 they could of it ; but next morning one pair kept all the rest 

 away, and since then for more than a year these two Crows 

 have, as it were, taken the house under their protection, and 

 no other Crow is ever suffered by them to come for food or 

 even to settle within biscuit-throw of the windows. They, 

 on their part, never wander far away, and though they may 

 not be visible, yet whenever we call them they soon come 

 flying up. Though they are only fed at mealtimes, they 

 occasionally come to the windows at other times, evidently 

 not expecting food, but as if for good fellowship and to see 

 that all is going well. It is curious why these two particular 

 birds should have decided to make me their friend. They 

 will sometimes, when I am returning home from a Avalk, 

 welcome me before I reach the house, and when I have been 



