THE CARRION CROW. 89 



of death, than its hide is sent to the tan-pit, and its re- 

 mains are either made into soup for the hunt, or care- 

 fully buried in the dunghill, to increase the farmer's 

 tillage. The poor crow, in the mean time, despised 

 and persecuted for having an inclination to feed upon 

 that of which, by the by, the occupier of the soil 

 takes good care that he shall scarcely have a transient 

 view, is obliged to look out for other kinds of food. 

 Hence you see it regularly examining the meadows, 

 the pastures, and the corn-fields, with an assiduity 

 not even surpassed by that of the rook itself. 



We labour under a mistake in supposing that 'the 

 flesh of the young carrion crow is rank and unpa- 

 latable. It is fully as good as that of the rook ; and 

 I believe that nobody who is accustomed to eat 

 rook-pie will deny that rook-pie is nearly, if not 

 quite, as good as pigeon-pie. Having fully satisfied 

 myself of the delicacy of the flesh of young carrion 

 crows, I once caused a pie of these birds to be served 

 up to two convalescent friends whose stomachs would 

 have yearned spasmodically had they known the 

 nature of the dish. I had the satisfaction of seeing 

 them make a hearty meal upon what they considered 

 pigeon-pie. 



The carrion crow will feed voraciously on ripe 

 cherries ; and, in the autumn, he will be seen in the 

 walnut trees, carrying off, from time to time, a few 

 of the nuts. With the exception of these two petty 

 acts of depredation, he does very little injury to man 

 during nine or ten months of the year ; and if, in 

 this period, he is to be called over the coals for 

 occasionally throttling an unprotected leveret or a 

 stray partridge, he may fairly meet the accusation 



