THE KING-CROW 43 



then jumped on to the ground and cowered at the base 

 of the trunk of a tree. 



Still the little furies made swoops at him, so that he 

 took to his heels and ran until he had put a long 

 distance between himself and his foes. 



I think sufficient has been said to show that king- 

 crows are able to look after their nests. 



Before passing on to consider some other traits 

 of their sturdy character, a few words about the nest 

 and eggs may not be out of place. The former is 

 "a strong, neat cup of roots and grass," covered over 

 with cobwebs. It looks rather like a knot in a tree and 

 hence is very difficult to distinguish when the bird is 

 not sitting. The eggs are remarkable as being of three 

 distinct types. They may be pure white, the ground 

 colour may be white, spotted with red, or the general 

 colour may be salmon, spotted with red, brown, and 

 purple. 



This is, I think, a very hard nut for those to crack 

 who maintain that eggs laid in nests are protectively 

 coloured. Needless to say, the same kind of young 

 bird comes out of each description of egg. The young, 

 when they first leave the nest, closely resemble their 

 parents, the chief point of difference being that the 

 lower plumage is spotted with white or grey. The 

 adult king-crow is a most beautiful object. Its beauty 

 is that of form and proportion rather than of colour. 

 It is the beauty of the athlete, of the racehorse, of the 

 tiger. 



King-crows need to be of athletic build, for they live 

 exclusively on flies and insects, which they catch on 



