THE FARMER'S FEATHERED FRIENDS. 9 



music (?) could be heard at a great distance ; the 

 greater the distance the better for the ears of the 

 listener. Nor was this all : there was a vocal part 

 besides, which it was expected the "crow-keeper" 

 or rather rook-scarer, should sing most lustily. 



These simple country functions are almost things 

 of the past ; many of them have gone, never to 

 return. Those of them that belonged to our boy- 

 hood are apt to recur to the memory as life ad- 

 vances, when much that occurred in our early 

 manhood is forgotten. 



That doggerel verse sung by the crow- keeper I 

 remember well, having shouted it myself hundreds 

 of times : 



" Fly crow, eat your spoil [spile], 

 While I sit down and rest awhile ; 

 For you know if master happens to come, 

 You must fly and I must run ! 

 Away crow ! away crow ! " 



Now as this, when properly done, was sung to a 

 quick-march tune, the clappers marking the time 

 most energetically, we leave the reader to imagine 

 for himself the uproar. What rook with any self- 

 respect could eat his meal within sound of such a 



D 



