THE CROW 



Sticks and twigs as chance might pile on 

 its forked foundations ; but woe betide 

 the hawk who ventures near, or owl who 

 dares to sound his hollow trumpet in 

 the sacred precincts. At the first alarm 

 signal, as suddenly and mysteriously as 

 Robin Hood's merry men appeared at 

 the winding of his horn, the black clans- 

 men rally from every quarter of the 

 greenwood, to assail the intruder and 

 force him to ignominious retreat. 



When at last the young crows, having 

 clad their uncouth nakedness with full 

 sable raiment, are abroad in the world, 

 they, with unwary foolhardiness and in- 

 cessant querulous cries of hunger or 

 alarm, are still a constant source of anx- 

 iety to parents and kindred. But in 

 the late summer, when the youngsters 

 have come to months of discretion and 

 the elders are freed from the bondage 

 of their care, a long holiday begins for 

 all the tribe. The corn has long since 

 ceased to tempt them, and the persecu- 

 tion of man has abated. The shorn 

 meadows and the close-cropped pastures 

 swarm with grasshoppers, and field and 

 forest offer their abundant fruits. 

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