MARCH. 39 



gate was opened, like a sluice that admits a woolly 

 deluge to the field, the hoodie crows, which had been 

 exchanging notes about the turnips from a score of 

 surrounding trees, had alighted, and with sidelong 

 hopping runs reached the nearest roots, and com- 

 menced drilling business-like holes through the hard 

 rinds to the juicy centres. 



LAMB-MURDER. 



If the hoodie crows confined themselves to larceny 

 of turnips, the farmer would tolerate their presence 

 in his coast-wise pastures. But he has reason to 

 mistrust the watchful interest which they take in the 

 proceedings of his poultry for eggs mean money 

 and it needs not the discovery of many little lambs 

 lying stiff and stark on the soft green grass, with 

 empty eye-sockets, to convince the farmer that an 

 extra boy with an old muzzle-loader must be added 

 to the shepherd's staff. But the crows quickly take 

 the measure of the muzzle-loader, and from their 

 vantage trees in the neighbouring fields you hear 

 them telling each other what the boy is doing, and 

 where he is going. So they still get as much turnip 

 as they can eat, though while the boy promenades 

 the hedgerows with his gun, looking for early birds'- 

 nests with persistence worthy of the hoodies them- 

 selves, the lambs have peace. Now and then, indeed, 

 you may see a hoodie crow deliberately leave a turnip 

 through which it has been driving a shaft and walk 

 circuitously up to a sleeping lamb, and give it a 

 vicious tweak, to see how much alive it is ; but as a 



