CROWS 55 



driving them off contumeliously should they attempt 

 to intrude on their privacy. They are also very 

 affectionate parents, and it is quite ludicrous to see 

 the way in which young birds, almost up to the 

 time that they are about to enter family life on 

 their own account, will every now and then affect 

 to be fledglings, cowering down in front of their 

 parents with fluttering wings and gaping beaks, 

 and successfully persuading them that they ought 

 to be fed. It is not easy to imagine what their 

 moral code can be, but they certainly seem to have 

 one, any transgression of which meets with general 

 reprobation, and sometimes with condign punish- 

 ment, during the course of which the sinner is 

 fallen upon, hustled, knocked down, and generally 

 maltreated by an indignant and vociferous mob. 

 The punishment in such cases, moreover, is not 

 the result of any precipitate impulse, or the mere 

 sequel to a fray, for it is usually only carried out 

 after prolonged and serious discussion of the matter. 

 They are always deeply affected by the sight of a 

 dead relative, collecting in crowds to gaze at the 

 corpse and discuss the sad event, and becoming 

 wildly excited over any human interference with 

 the remains. A crowd of crows is as easily 

 assembled as one of human beings, and often on 

 quite as futile grounds. Only let one or two 

 crows settle down together and begin to clamour, 

 and forthwith the air is blackened by troops of 



