190 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



The rook is also black, but its whole plumage 

 is lustrous with a purplish-blue sheen. 



The jackdaw is the smallest of the four, 

 measuring but fourteen inches ; the other three 

 are from eighteen to twenty inches in length. 

 The head of the jackdaw is of the same colour 

 as the back of the hooded crow, i.e., a gray, 

 leaden hue. 



The crow family generally are all rascals and 

 terrible thieves, though very amusing in their 

 ways ; but for downright consummate impudence 

 the Indian crow is far in advance of his English 

 relations. No one who has not had experience of 

 these birds could possibly credit all which they 

 can dare and do. The native servants never 

 carry an uncovered dish from the cookhouse with- 

 out taking the precautions of waving a hand or 

 a stick quickly to and fro over it, for as surely 

 as they omit to do so, so surely will a crow or a 

 kite swoop down and steal the contents. 



An Indian crow can be most truly irritating 

 by disturbing the sleep and rest which are so 

 sorely needed during the hot Indian day after a 

 hard morning's work. It is at such times as 

 these that one of them will elect to perch on the 

 topmost bough of the nearest tree, or, worse still, 

 on the top of the chimney, and croak unceas- 

 ingly. It is all very well to drive it away : it 

 speedily returns, and renders sleep hopeless. 

 Were it an ordinary crow, it might be possible 

 to encompass its destruction ; but there is no 



