io ANIMALS OF NO IMPORTANCE. 



though it did believe this. When the weary Anglo-Indian 

 determines to spend an " Europe morning" all the crows 

 in the neighbourhood manage to find this out. How they 

 accomplish this I am unable to say for certain, but I 

 strongly suspect that a douceur to the bearer does the trick. 

 Whether this is so or not it matters little ; what does matter 

 is that the crows find out, and take up a position in the 

 verandah at dawn and " squawk " in concert until they 

 awaken the sahib, and make him so irate that further sleep 

 is out of the question. Have we not all had frequent and 

 painful experience of the untimely loquacity of the crow ? 

 Why then dilate further upon this painful subject? I do 

 not attempt to explain away the general " cussedness " of 

 the crow. The only apology that I have to offer is that it is 

 the result of the great intelligence of the bird. Now it is a 

 sad truth that intelligence among animals always shows 

 itself in the form of wickedness. Possibly the monkey, cat, 

 and cuckoo are the most intelligent of the animals. Can one 

 conceive of a more wicked trio ? It is a hard saying, but 

 nevertheless a true one, that if you want to behold a per- 

 fectly good animal, that injures nothing, you must descend 

 to the oyster ; and indeed even this inoffensive mollusc 

 sometimes causes illness to those who eat him. 



If crows are bold bad birds they, unlike the cuckoo, who 

 is far more wicked, often get punished for their evil deeds. 

 There is one unfortunate crow in our station, around the 

 neck of whom some wag has tied a little bell, such as one 

 often sees attached to a lapdog. Thus this crow is forced for 

 his sins to go through life like the lady who rode to Ban- 

 bury Cross with "music wherever she goes." The tinkling 

 of the bell as the crow flies overhead causes some surprise 

 to those not conversant of the facts of the case ; they are apt 

 to think that they have discovered a new species of bird. 

 The lot of this crow is a happy one as compared with that 

 of the member of the tribe who is obliged to carry about 

 with* him a Wills' cigarette tin, through the bottom of which 

 his head has been thrust by some soldier ! 



