57 



I once saw a couple of these birds thoroughly 

 enjoying themselves sliding down a cow's tail just as 

 small boys love to slide down the bannister. 



The Madras crows seem to like paddling in the 

 sea ; they delight to stand on the sand left wet by a 

 retreating wave and dare the next to drive them' off 

 from that spot. If the wave accepts the challenge 

 and comes up with such force as to threaten to wash 

 the crows off their feet, these birds strut away un- 

 concernedly as though they had caught sight of some 

 object higher up the shore. You will never get a 

 crow to admit that he has been " scored off." 



''King of the Castle" is another game in which 

 crows revel. These birds always sit by preference on 

 some high seat, from whence they can look down on 

 and jeer at their fellow-birds. A dozen crows may 

 be seen sitting on any roof which goes up into a 

 point. They are very partial to knobs of pillars ; as 

 they stand on these they remind one of the pillar 

 samts. In such positions they look as though they 

 were dping penance, and so they are, for such a perch 

 IS most uncomfortable ; but just as a small boy will 

 sit on a rough, hard wall in preference to a com- 



