DICKENS'S RAVENS. 479 
his best, for his former master sent his duty with him, and said, ‘ if 
I wished the bird to come out very strong, to be so good as show 
him a drunken man; which I never did, having (unfortunately) 
none but sober people at hand. But I could hardly have respected 
him more, whatever the stimulating influence of this sight might 
have been. He had not the least respect for me, I am sorry to say, 
in return, or for anybody but the cook, to whom he was attached, 
but, I fear, only as a policeman might have been. Once 1 met him 
unexpectedly, about half a mile off, walking down the middle of the 
public street, attended by a pretty large crowd, and spontaneously 
exhibiting the whole of his accomplishments. His gravity under this 
trying ordeal I never can forget, nor the extraordinary gallantry with 
which, refusing to be brought home, he defended himself behind a 
pump until overpowered by numbers. It may have been that he 
was too bright a genius to live long, or it may have been that he 
took something pernicious into his bill, and thence into his maw-— 
which is not improbable, seeing he new-pointed the greater part of 
the garden wall by digging out the mortar, broke countless squares of 
glass by scraping away the putty all round the frames, and tore up 
and swallowed in splinters the greater part of a wooden staircase of 
six steps as well as the landing—but after some three years he was 
taken ill, and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the 
last upon the meat as it roasted, and suddenly turned over on his 
hack with the sepulchral cry of ‘Cuckoo !’” 
Crows are universally diffused over the globe. The Raven (Corvus 
«wrax) and the Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) are sedentary birds, and 
never voluntarily abandon the place they have elected for their home. 
‘The Rook (Corvus frugilegus, Fig. 196) and the Jackdaw (Corvus mone- 
dula) are migratory in their habits, only visiting the countries of southern 
Europe on the approach of winter. The Royston or Hooded Crow 
(Corvus cornix) inhabits the lofty mountain regions of Europe, 
descending into the plains during winter. It is also solitary in its 
habits. The Senegal Crow (Corvus senegalensis) is exclusively 
confined to Africa. The Great-billed Crow (Corvus crassirostris) is a 
native of Abyssinia, the handsome Philippine Crow (Corvus sinensis) 
to the group of islands after which it is named, and finally the Fish 
Crow (Corvus ossifragus), which is about the size of a Jackdaw, is 
_confined to America. 
The Pies (ica) are distinguished from the Crows by their shorter 
wings, longer tail, and by their variegated plumage; but for this 
difference, they greatly resemble the previously described. Like 
the Crows, they are omnivorous, but they generally avoid dead prey ; 
