Mr. F. Finn, however, takes a more favourable 

 view^ of the bird. According to him "the crow is a 

 bird of many social virtues ; he will certainly rescue 

 a friend in distress if he can, for his evident and 

 loudly expressed indignation when one handles a dead 

 or living comrade of his makes it plain that a less 

 powerful enemy than man would probably be seriously 

 attacked. Also he is a good husband, feeding his 

 wife assiduously, and letting her pull their common 

 booty away from him ; and a tender parent, much 

 attached to his abominable offspring, in defence of 

 which he will attack human beings at times." 

 I agree with Mr. Finn, and have given the crow upon 

 more than one occasion an excellent clut. I once 

 took up a whole column of the valuable space of a 

 newspaper in white-washing the bird. I have gone 

 further. I have dedicated a book to him. For this 

 I have been taken to task by a naturalist who loveth 

 not the crow and who chided me for '' most wrongly 

 and perversely " affecting that '' vilest of all vermin," 

 the crow. 



All I can say in reply is that I know of no bird or 

 beast so amusing to watch as the crow. If any njan 

 can witness the doings of an Indian crow for ten 



