DID YOU EVER CATCH A CROW BY THE TAIL? 



THE East In- 

 dian crow is, 



I think, with- 

 -out excep- 

 tion, the 

 most impu- 

 dent bird I 

 ever met. 

 The house- 

 sparrow i s 

 quite a shy 

 bird in comparison with him. He not 

 or.ly frequents the towns, and picks up 

 a living from the scraps of food daily 

 thrown out from the houses, but when the 

 servants get up in the morning, and open 

 all the doors and windows for their house 

 cleaning, the crow likes to perch on the 

 neighboring trees and watch every opera- 

 tion. The chattering and cawing they keep 

 up all the time would convince any one that 

 they are criticising everything they see. At 

 every opportunity, some one of them, bolder 

 than the rest, will alight on the window-sill, 

 send a quick glance around the room, and 

 if his eye falls on anything tempting, such 

 as a ball of worsted or cotton, or a teaspoon, 

 or anything small or bright or soft-looking, 

 he takes another l<;ok around, alights softly 

 by the coveted article, takes it in his beak 

 and makes a dash for the open window, 

 where he is welcomed by the caw-cawing of 

 the whole flock. 



Of course no one in India would shoot a 

 crow, they are most valuable as scavengers, 

 and the natives knowing their value submit 

 patiently to their thievish tricks; and as to 

 catching or trapping them, they are up to 

 every device. You might as soon think of 

 catching a weasel asleep as a crow off his 

 guard, 



liut everything comes to him who has 

 patience to wait, and it once fell to my lot 

 to catch a crow by the tail. He had alighted, 



quite unconscious of danger, on the awning 

 over a little window, that lighted the stair- 

 way of my house on a level with the first 

 landing; and walking quietly upstairs, I 

 caught sight of his tail, and as of course he 

 could not see me, I stole noiselessly up, 

 seized him by the tail, and pulled him in so 

 quickly that he was speechless with astonish- 

 ment. 



Calling a servant to hold him, I cut out a 

 collar of good stiff foolscap paper, about 

 three inches in diameter, fringed it taste- 

 fully, and making a cross slit in the center, 

 passed it over his head and let him go. 



He went off to the nearest tree and tried 

 to shake off the unwelcome badge. Failing 

 in that, he twisted his head in all directions 

 trying to get hold of it with his beak, but 

 all in vain. 



While thus engaged he was startled by a 

 caw close to him, which said as plainly as 

 possible: "Why, what a guy you are I What- 

 ever in the name of fortune have you been 

 doing with yourself?" 



The poor culprit hung his head and said 

 never a word, and you never saw a wide- 

 awake bird look as foolish as he did. 



Then came a second crow, and both be- 

 gan to rate the culprit and ply him with 

 questions, and say what they thought of 

 him. They cawed so loud that in a few 

 minutes there were well nigh a hundred 

 crows on the tree, and although the pro- 

 ceedings were not quite as orderly as in one 

 of our courts of justice, there was no doubt 

 about it that the crows were sitting in judg- 

 ment upon him, and charging him with a 

 very grave offense. First one stretched his 

 neck and cawed at him, then another, and 

 another. Then they all began to caw at 

 each other, but the poor culprit never 

 opened his mouth. 



You see he was in a dilemma. Neither 

 crows nor men have any patience with those 



