THE CARE OF YOUNG BIRDS 25 



thrown to them. They would go farther when the 

 opportunity occurred, and commit petty larceny. 



The crows were all grey- necked ones, with the excep- 

 tion of two belonging to the larger black species. But 

 these latter are comparatively shy birds, and conse- 

 quently used to hang about on the outskirts of the 

 crowd. 



Among the grey-necked crows was a family of four 

 the parents and two young birds. Every day, without 

 fail, they used to visit the verandah ; the two young 

 birds made more noise than all the rest of the crows 

 put together. They were easily recognisable, firstly, by 

 their more raucous voices, and, secondly, by the pink 

 inside of the mouth. When I first noticed them they 

 were so old that, in size, they were very nearly equal to 

 the mother. Further, the grey of the neck was sharply 

 differentiated from the black portions of the plumage, 

 showing that they had left the nest some time ago. 



Unfortunately I did not make a note of the day 

 on which they first put in an appearance. I can, 

 however, safely say that they visited my verandah 

 regularly for some weeks, during the whole of which 

 time the mother bird fed them most assiduously. It was 

 ludicrous to see the great creatures sidle up to mamma 

 when she had seized a piece of toast, and open their 

 red mouths, often pecking at one another out of 

 jealousy. 



They were obviously well able to look after them- 

 selves; their flight was as powerful as that of the mother 

 bird, yet she treated them as though they were infants, 

 incapable of doing anything for themselves. 



