I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO 



CORVUS SPLENDENSj ESQUIRE, 



THE GREY-NECKED CROW, 



most clever and cunning of birds, who disturbs my morning 

 slumbers, who converts into a play-ground the back of my 

 unresisting mare, who devours my choicest fruit as it ripens 

 on the tree, who steals every portable object upon which he 

 can lay his claws, but who, as a set-off to his misdeeds, has 

 afforded me much amusement. 



