4 6o DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



sonal body-guard to the little girl, and it was woe 

 to the stray cat, dog or barnyard fowl who ap- 

 proached too near little Debby. The innocent lit- 

 tle garter-snakes that timidly wiggled through the 

 grass by the feet of Debby never failed to lose their 

 heads and rest their bones inside of Jim Crow. 



Dick would never harm the pretty little insect- 

 eating snakes, or any other wild creature. He 

 loved them all too well. He loved the grass, the 

 trees, the sky and the air. 



THE BIRDS WERE HIS PERSONAL FRIENDS. 



Dick knew where all the people of Birdville 

 lived, from the kingbirds in the tall Buttonwood 

 tree to the ground sparrow in the clover. Jim the 

 crow also knew the inhabitants of Birdville; but 

 it would not have troubled the conscience of the 

 crow to eat the robins' eggs and the young catbirds 

 at a meal and wantonly destroy their little nests. If 

 he refrained from so doing, it was possibly because 

 he always had enough to eat at home, or perhaps 

 Jim thought that the inhabitants of Birdville be- 

 longed to his young master. Jim Crow might steal 

 from everyone else, but he never was guilty of 

 robbing Dick, and even such tempting objects as 

 Dick's bright glass marbles were deemed sacred by 

 the crow. 



The other birds always looked with suspicion 

 at Dick's black companion and although they 

 learned to trust the boy, they never failed to scold, 

 and often to attack, the crow. 



