SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 159 
and they forthwith use every wile, every stratagem in their power, 
to entice the tame birds back to their ranks. 
Often in summer when I arrive early at the Park I surprise a 
company of them “having it out’—the tame bird surrounded 
by a ring of his fellows, all talking at once, and giving him no 
chance for argument. But they have their trouble for their pains, 
for his is a life of unnumbered daily meals, not to mention the 
opportunities for stealing and hoarding sundry keys, knives, and 
other bright plunder—the occupation dearest to a corvine heart. 
