THE CROWS 



gamekeepers, and the lawn or shrubbery is guarded 

 like a preserve. Everything goes well till the 

 young birds are almost ready to quit the nest, 

 when one morning they are missing. 



The theft is, perhaps, attributed to the boys of 

 the neighbourhood, but unjustly, unless plain traces 

 of entry are visible. It is either cats or crows. 

 The cats cannot be kept out, not even by a dog, 

 for they watch till his attention is otherwise en- 

 gaged. Food is not so much the object as the 

 pleasure of destruction, for cats will kill and yet 

 not eat their victim. The crow may not have 

 been seen in the garden, and it may be said that 

 he could not have known of the nest without 

 looking round the place. But the crow is a keen 

 observer, and has not the least necessity to search 

 for the nest. 



He merely keeps a watch on the motions of the 

 old birds of the place, and knows at once by their 

 flight being so continually directed to one spot that 

 there their treasure lies. He and his companion 

 may come very early in the morning summer 

 mornings are bright as noonday long before the 

 earliest gardener is abroad or they may come in 

 the dusk of the evening. Crows are not so par- 

 ticular in retiring regularly to roost as the rook. 



The furze and copse frequented by the pair 

 which I found attacking the missel-thrushes are 

 9 129 



