WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 293 



Four or five will perch on the post and rails, intent 

 on the tempting morsels : sitting with their heads a 

 little on one side and peering over. Suddenly one 

 thinks he sees an opportunity. Down he hops, and 

 takes a peck, but before he has hardly seized it a hen 

 darts across, running at him with beak extended like 

 lance in rest. Instantly he is up on the rail again, and 

 the impetus of the hen's charge carries her right 

 under him. 



Then, while her back is turned, down hops a second 

 and helps himself freely. Out rushes another hen, 

 and up goes the jackdaw. A pause ensues for a few 

 minutes : presently a third black rascal dashes right 

 into the midst of the fowls, picks up a morsel, and 

 rises again before they can attack him. The way in 

 which the jackdaw dodges the hens, though alighting 

 among them, and as it were for the moment surrounded, 

 is very clever ; and it is laughable to see the cool 

 impudence with which he perches again on the rail, 

 and looks down demurely, not a whit abashed, on the 

 feathered housewife he has just been doing his best 

 to rob. 



