38 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



or dun crows are, or have been, through the 

 force of circumstances which have influenced 

 them for generations, trained to a degree in 

 the best way of taking care of number one, or 

 two, as the case may be. Although they may 

 appear to be acting with the most perfect in- 

 difference when met with a rare thing now in 

 game counties they are really watching your 

 movements, in order to see if any harm is likely 

 to come to them through you. 



In past years I was fairly well acquainted 

 with crows and their ways : no one troubled 

 himself about them particularly, unless they got 

 at the young chickens on the upland farms ; 

 yet, strange to say, all their actions showed 

 as much craft, so far as self-preservation was 

 concerned, as if every man and boy about the 

 place was under a contract to effect their de- 

 struction. Now and then a pair got shot, and, 

 strange to tell, these were cooked and eaten. 



About the magpie I have a few words to say : 

 he has a reputation all his own for astuteness, 

 which is fully justified by the bird's actions. 

 So very deeply laid at times are his schemes 

 and wiles to gain his ends, that in many places 

 the very name of magpie is associated with 

 something uncanny. 



