To Mountain Tarn 



incessant persecution, and would soon be ex- 

 terminated. 



Throughout Scotland, the distribution of the 

 gay crows is ragged, with many fresh rents. Less 

 strictly a woodland bird, and better able to look 

 after itself, the magpie is the commoner. Though 

 here and there, especially in the Highlands, the 

 jay persists while the magpie is absent. Where 

 are no pheasants, the woodland crow will be less 

 harmful. 



The plea of a life for an egg, supposed to be 

 conclusive, is not without a possible answer. 



" I will use them according to their desert." 



4 'Odds bodikins, man, much better. Use every 

 man after his desert, and who will escape whip- 

 ping?" 



Even the black crows are charming in their 

 glossy coat, with, betimes, a hood of soft grey 

 over their heads. Their alertness passes into an 

 amusing boldness approaching to impudence. 

 They are interesting in a nimbleness of wit be- 

 yond that of other birds, partly the gift of their 

 mode of life. 



Wild and remote, or near and familiar, the 

 environment is always striking. The raven to 

 the corrie, the rook to the windy elms of the 

 manor-house, the jackdaw to the grey old church 

 tower, the chough to the rocky coast where the 

 waves chafe. Even the crow lends its touch of 

 weirdness to the bare upland pasture, where the 



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