Black Robbers. 261 



not uttering their well-known cry. Jackdaws Vvill 

 visit the hencoops if not close to the house, and help 

 themselves to the food meant for the fowls. Poultr}- 

 are often kept in rickyards, a field or two distant 

 from the homestead, and it is then amusing to watch 

 the impudent attempts of the jackdaws at robbery. 

 Four or five will perch on the post and rails, intent 

 on the tempting morsels : sitting with their heads a 

 little on one side and peering over. Suddenly one 

 thinks he sees an opportunity. Down he hops, and 

 talies a peck, but before he has hardl}' seized it, a 

 hen darts across, running at him with beak extended 

 like lance in rest. Instantly he is up on the rail 

 again, and the impetus of the hen's charge carries 

 her right under him. 



Then, while her back is turned, down hops a 

 second and helps himself fl•eel3^ Out rushes another 

 hen, and up goes the jackdaw. A pause ensues for 

 a few minutes : presently a third black rascal dashes 

 right into the midst of the fowls, picks up a morsel, 

 and rises again before they can attack him. The 

 way in which the jackdaw dodges the hens — though 

 alighting among them, and as it were for the moment 

 surrounded — is ver^' clever ; and it is laughable to see 

 the cool impudence with which he perches again 

 on the rail, and looks down demurely, not a whit 

 abashed, on the feathered housewife he has just been 

 doinof his best to rob. 



