A MUCH-ABVSED BIRD. 9 



which we in our simplicity call the Mall of the station, when 

 I came upon a crow making tremendous efforts to swallow 

 a piece of paper. From the moment he caught sight of me 

 he, crow-like, kept one eye on me. When I approached 

 nearer than he liked he hopped off, and happened to land 

 on the upturned end of a crooked twig. The other end 

 struck him full in the face. The look which that crow 

 bestowed on the offending branch was worth going miles 

 to see. As to his language, I could not repeat it, for, in 

 the first place, I did not understand it, and, secondly, if I 

 had understood it, I fear the Editor of this paper would 

 have refused to print it for fear of shocking any bargees 

 into whose hands it might happen to fall. 



The crow is certainly greedy, but then so are all animals 

 and many human beings. That being so, it is unfair to lay 

 this sin to the charge of the crow. The crow is, further, in 

 our eyes a thief; he will steal anything he can lay his beak 

 upon, from one's chota hazri to one's stamps, but then 

 every animal who has the pluck to do so will steal them, 

 provided, of course, the said animal has use for these articles. 

 In extenuation of the crow we must remember that the 

 sagacious bird, in common with all thinking animals, 

 indubitably shares the belief that the chief end of man is to 

 make himself generally useful to the other animals. This 

 being the case, it follows that men build verandahs to their 

 bungalows for the delectation of crows, and prepare food 

 for them to eat. Theft is apparently not an offence that 

 comes within the animal penal code, and if it did, theft, 

 where man was the victim, would come among the excep- 

 tions at the beginning of the volume, for where man is 

 concerned animals are without doubt dolt incapax. Thus 

 the first three of the alleged sins of the crow are easily dis- 

 posed of. However, the matter is different with regard to 

 the fourth the general " cussedness " of the crow. This 

 is his prevailing sin and one which is quite inexcusable. 

 No right-thinking animal could possibly believe that man 

 was created especially for it to tease. The crow acts as 



