106 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
on an almost inaccessible precipice, sometimes in the 
upper branches of a lofty tree, and composed always 
of sticks roughly lined with wool and hair. When 
once a pair of ravens have selected their nesting-place, 
they usually return to it in succeeding years, and 
thus, in course of time, a vast accumulation of mate- 
rials takes place. The eggs, four or five in number, 
are very like those of the rook upon a larger scale, 
the ground colour being a dull green, variegated with 
sundry spots and blotches of brown. 
THE mere name of the Carrion Crow is evidence of 
its beneficial character, showing that we have in the 
bird an ally of the raven in the great task of purifying 
the world. The crow, in fact, is, both in appearance 
and in habits, a smaller edition of the raven, and 
merits our approval and encouragement in quite an 
equal degree. 
Unfortunately, however, the bird in this respect 
but too seldom meets with its due. Men bear in 
mind the evil which it does, and close their eyes to 
the good, and the crow, like so many others of the 
feathered race, shows by its decreased numbers the 
relentless persecution which has been directed against 
it. Where ten crows might formerly have been seen, 
scarcely one is now to be found, and every year the 
bird seems to become more scarce, and to retire yet 
farther from the haunts of men. 
Not that it is possible to deny the mischief of 
which it is frequently the cause, alike in the sheep- 
fold, the poultry-yard, and the preserves. Like the 
