116 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



but the crow usually managed to keep out of her reach. 

 Finally he half jumped and half flew over her head, made 

 a grab at something, then flew back upon the stake and 

 we could see clearly that he had an egg in his mouth. 

 Now the secret was out. He had found this prairie hen's 

 nest and she was defending her eggs. Knowing that it 

 was useless to interfere in a case of this kind we went 

 on with our plowing and watched these birds as much as 

 possible. The trouble continued for an hour or more and 

 we knew that the crow got another egg. Finally, per- 

 haps because his hunger was satisfied for the time or 

 possibly because he had received more punishment from the 

 prairie hen than he wished he left the place. 



We had noticed that he alighted on an unusually tall 

 fence stake before attempting to reach the nest and 

 perched there while eating the eggs that he succeeded in 

 stealing. When we went to dinner, Brother John, who 

 was an expert at trapping hawks and owls, brought a steel 

 trap back to the field with him and set it on the top of 

 this stake, driving the ferrule of the chain into the hard 

 wood of the stake. About the middle of the afternoon 

 this old black crow alighted on the ground near this nest. 

 After trudging about for a time he managed to get another 

 egg before the mother discovered him. One egg was all 

 that he secured before she rushed to the defense of her 

 nest. Realizing that he would be safe from attack while 

 perched on top of this stake the crow alighted on it with- 

 out stopping to look. Crows very seldom alight anywhere 

 without very carefully scrutinizing the place, but like most 

 people who are engaged in rascality he lost his good judg- 

 ment for once, and once was all that was necessary. The 

 trap caught him by both legs and held him securely. We 



