76 American Birds 



teach him to talk, and it was well for Jack he couldn't 

 lest he might have told many of his sins we never dis- 

 covered. 



Bright-colored objects and things that glittered seemed 

 to attract him. Although he couldn't string his treasures 

 and wear them around his neck like an Indian, he never 

 lost the enthusiasm of a collector. A thimble was missed 

 in the house and the children were accused of misplac- 

 ing it. It was not found till a year later. When the old 

 apple tree was cut down, up in a hole in the fork were 

 found the thimble, a teaspoon, and a lot of broken glass 

 and other trinkets. The finding of Jack's storehouse 

 cleared up many little troubles for the children. 



There used to be a current notion, which probably 

 was well founded, that crows would rob hens' nests. Jack 

 Crow's farmer-father said that if he ever got to robbing 

 nests he would have to be killed. But he never did. He 

 kept his thieving to the more petty, annoying thefts around 

 the house. But he lived up to crow character every bit 

 and never let the grass grow under his feet. When he 

 could sneak into the summer kitchen he would hop on a 

 chair, and then upon the table, and snatch things when he 

 thought no one was looking. Stealing was pure delight 

 to him. 



A crow likes company as a chicken does. But he 

 can't be placed in the same class with chickens. What a 

 sputtering in the barn-yard when the crows flew over! 

 But the chickens were friendly to Jack, for in winter he ran 

 around with them, picking up extras beside what he got 

 from the table. Jack considered everything a gain. 

 He stayed with the family the whole of one year. Early 



