9650 Birds. 



or whatever it may be, from the other, then a row takes place. The 

 crow cannot hold its tongue, and the noise attracts the hungry kite, 

 who comes down with a swoop and takes away the bone of contention. 

 I remember once seeing a large rat thrown out of a trap, a crow at 

 once came near, examined it, and pecked at it for a while without 

 making much impression ; it then set up a cawing, which brought a 

 dozen other crows to the spot ; they all began pecking and tugging at 

 it, and had nearly succeeded in breaking the skin of the rat, but they 

 could not keep their good luck to themselves, but made such a noise 

 that a kite, flying over head, thought they had got something good, 

 made a pounce at the rat and fled away with it, leaving the party of 

 crows in the utmost astonishment, with their necks stretched out, at 

 the sudden disappearance of their prey. 



The crow will take a piece of bread from a child's hand, or even 

 its mouth ; it will bully a small chicken or young duck when the hen 

 is not present — it dare not do it when she is there to defend her 

 family. 



If you shoot a crow, every other within half a mile will come hover- 

 ing round in great excitement, or will alight on the trees close by, 

 making a terrible row. 



The crow has meetings for some reason or another ; these the 

 natives call "Punchayeti" (assort of court). T have several times 

 seen these assemblies ; four or five crows will alight upon an 

 open space, generally on green grass, two or three will begin cawing, 

 and in a minute or so, some forty or fifty of them will come flying 

 towards the place by twos and threes from every quarter : they then 

 form a kind of ring round one crow, who appears to be an offender 

 against some of their rules of society, and they remain still for some 

 minutes — the culprit never appears to attempt to escape ; then all of a 

 sudden five or six of them will attack the prisoner, pecking him and 

 striking him with their wings. On one occasion 1 saw the crow left 

 dead on the spot, on another the prisoner's wing was broken ; but 

 these courts, or whatever they are, suddenly come to a termination by 

 the too near approach of a man or a dog. 1 saw one meeting which 

 lasted twenty minutes, but no punishment was inflicted on any of them 

 and no noise was made ; the whole assembly flew off" together, they 

 were not disturbed at all, and they were eating nothing, for it took 

 place on a bare plain. Of course it must only be surmised as to why 

 these crows are punished by the others ; perhaps some close observer 

 mav discover the reason. The crow can hardly be called a gregarious 

 bird, in the same way that the rook is, because the crow builds it nest 



