FEBRUART. 



CROWS AT LAMBING-TIME. 



February 6. It may be only a gruesome coinci- 

 dence though Nature's clockwork arrangements of 

 cause and effect leave little room for coincidence that 

 just when the shepherds on our east coast are putting 

 the finishing touches to their snug lambing-yards of 

 hurdled straw and furze, the hoodie crows always 

 assemble hard by in battalions. Where hoodie crows 

 are numerous carrion crows always seem scarce, 

 although they are so closely related that in many 

 places they interbreed freely ; but it is rarely that in 

 a flock of fifty hoodies one sees a single carrion crow, 

 though both would be attracted by the same causes, 

 having the same horrid tastes. Not that the crows 

 often do much mischief at lambing-time our lambs 

 and ewes are too carefully watched for that but one 

 does not like to think of the fate of a dying ewe or 

 weakling lamb that might be overlooked and left to 

 the cruel vivisection of those iron beaks. 



MAN AND BIRDS OF PREY. 



It is a human instinct to shudder at sight or 

 thought of carrion birds, but to like and admire 

 birds of prey. The reason is, of course, that the 

 past experience of our species tells us of the fate 



