10 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
another dog at his bone. When the cow is done, the 
birds take possession of her pail and pick out every 
crumb she has left. 
The blackbird! is more civilized than most other 
birds. You are all acquainted with him, for we find 
him at home almost everywhere. Though he dresses 
differently in different parts of the country, he is always 
a blackbird. Where we live he has a white eye, like a 
tricky horse. He likes the company of sheep and cattle 
in our pastures and lanes. 
We have seen these birds taking a free ride all over 
the fields, while the good-natured animals seemed to 
like it and did not try to shake them off. Once we 
laughed merrily when we saw a whole flock of black- 
birds taking a ride “pig back,” while the pigs rooted 
away in the ground, paying no attention to the birds 
on their backs. 
Once when we were in Sitka, Alaska, a long way 
from home, we went out very early to watch the birds. 
We saw a great black raven on the back of a donkey 
that had been lying down all night on a bed of straw. 
The raven pecked the donkey’s back and made him get 
up from his warm bed. Then the hungry bird made a 
breakfast of the insects that had crept under the donkey 
during the cold night to share his warmth. We were 
told that this raven was in the habit of getting his 
breakfast in this way. 
1In the west, Brewer’s blackbird, Scolecophagus cyanocephalus ; 
in the east, purple grackle, Quiscalus quiscula. 
