THE JACK-DAW. 187 



rut on their backs, they were unable to recover themselves; 

 and both sheep and cattle stuck fast in places which stock in 

 better condition could pass with ease. These were days of 

 plenty with the raven, whose morning's work was to go 

 round and punch out eyes ; and then, though the animals 

 were found, only the skin was useful to man ; and so the 

 raven, who generally sat at no great distance during the 

 operation, soon came and claimed the carcase. In the im- 

 mediate destruction of that, the raven was of service ; because 

 no browsing animal will feed near the carrion of its own 

 species; and that he was able to begin the work, proved 

 either that the pastures were on the whole overstocked, or 

 that they were injudiciously managed. Indeed, the havoc 

 committed by a predatory animal will always, if duly studied, 

 be found to involve an admonition, which, properly acted on, 

 will cure the evil produced by that animal, and produce a 

 considerable reward for the labour it may require in addi- 

 tional and positive good. In those hilly districts where 

 ravens are still to be found, animals are subject to more 

 casualties than they are in the plains, or on the level moors : 

 so that the ravens still have their use there, and the wanton 

 destruction of them is, at all events, a matter deserving con- 

 sideration. 



THE JACK-DAW (Corvus monedula). 



The jack-daw is the only, other British bird that strictly 

 belongs to the crow tribe. It is a frequenter of the haunts 

 of man, active, noisy, and familiar, almost to impudence; but 

 it is a lively bird; and though at times it may take a little 

 grain, that is far more than compensated by the number of 

 insects and worms that it destroys in the course of the year. 



The jack-daw is the smallest of the tribe, being only about 

 half the weight of the rook; but the wings are larger in pro- 

 portion. It is about fourteen niches long, twenty-nine broad, 



