THE SCAVENGER-IN-WAITING 25 



a little, seizes it with his claws, and sails away to the 

 nearest housetop, where he devours his booty, fixing 

 it with his talons as he tears it with his beak. 



Crows love not the kite. His manner of Uving 

 resembles theirs so closely that a certain amount of 

 opposition is inevitable. Then, again, the kite never 

 makes any bones about carrying off a young crow if the 

 opportunity presents itself. If the truth be told, the 

 crows are afraid of the kite. They will, of course, not 

 admit this. You will never get a crow to admit any- 

 thing that may be used as evidence against him. 



The crows regard kites with much the same feelings 

 that the smaller boys at school regard the big, bullying 

 boys. Those who know the ways of the corvi (and who 

 is there in India that does not ?) will not be surprised 

 to hear that they never lose an opportunity of scoring 

 off a kite. There is no commoner sight than that of 

 a brace of them, as hkely as not aided and abetted by a 

 king crow, chasing the fleeing glead, and endeavouring 

 to pull a beakful of feathers out of his rump. 



But crows prefer to worry the kite upon terra firma, 

 for the latter is a clumsy bird when on the ground. 

 He is so heavy that he can only waddle along, and, 

 notwithstanding his great pinions, he experiences 

 difficulty in raising himself off a level plain. Hence 

 it is when a kite is resting, half asleep, upon the 

 ground, that the " lurking villain crows " usually 

 worry him. It requires at least two of the " treble- 

 dated birds " to do this with success. One ahghts in 

 front of the victim and the other behind him. This 

 apparently harmless manoeuvre is quite sufficient to 



