HO IN BIRD-LAND 



borrowed a gun, shot one of the Crows and hung 

 it over his garden as a warning to all other 

 offenders. The one remaining seemed very much 

 distressed at seeing her mate thus hung up, and 

 she sat on one of the neighbouring trees ever and 

 anon giving out a dismal kaarr ; after a day or 

 two had passed she disappeared, and while walking 

 in the fields I saw her lying dead under the tree 

 on which she had mourned the loss of her mate ! 

 There was not a mark on her body of any violence ; 

 the poor bird in her sorrow had evidently refused 

 to eat, for, on her gizzard being opened and 

 examined, there was not a grain of food to be 

 seen, nor did it look as if there had been for 

 some time. There was plenty of food round 

 about these allotments, so that it could not 

 have been through any scarcity that the Crow 

 died. 



The Carrion-Crow often has to suffer for the 

 sins of his near relation the Rook ; but for the 

 greater part of the year the Crow really does a 

 great deal of good on behalf of agriculturists, as, 

 owing to the scarcity of carrion, such birds have to 

 feed on insects and small animals, such as rats and 

 mice. But as nothing seems to come amiss to 

 Crows in the breeding season, when hungry young 

 ones are clamouring for food, the parents, em- 



