154 Birds Every Child Should Know 



you may be very sure, and puts a price on the 

 robber's head. Yet he knows that corn, dipped 

 in tar before it is put in the ground, will be 

 left alone to sprout. But who is clever enough 

 to keep the crows out of the field in autumn? 



How htimiliated would humans feel if they 

 realised what these knowing birds must think 

 of us when we set up in our cornfields the 

 absurd-looking scares they so calmly ignore! 

 Some crows I know ate every kernel off every 

 ear around the scare -crow in a neighbour's 

 field, but touched no stalk very far from it, as 

 much as to say: "We take your dare along 

 with your com, Mr. Silly. If the ox that 

 treadeth out his com is entitled to his share 

 of it, ought not we, who saved it from grass- 

 hoppers, cutworms, May beetles and other 

 pests, be sharers in the profits?" Granted; 

 but what about eating the farmer's young 

 chickens and turkeys as well as the eggs and 

 babies of little song birds? At times, it must be 

 admitted, the crow's heart is certainly as 

 dark as his feathers; he is as black as he is 

 painted, but happily such cannibalism is apt 

 to be rare. Strange that a bird so tenderly 

 devoted to his own fledglings, should be so 

 heartless to others'! 



Toward the end of winter, you may see a 

 pair of crows carrying sticks and trash to the 

 top of some tall tree in the leafless woods. 



