OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS, 29 
Miss Sweet replied: ‘‘Unfortu- 
nately they do not always go together. 
The Crow seems to be regarded by 
men and birds almost in the light of a criminal.” 
} ‘But is he really very troublesome?” asked “Quer- 
“ist.” 
“That can hardly be doubted, although some writers 
claim that he has no friends because he takes a little 
corn, while really he destroys more worms which would 
injure the corn. I have seen a flock of crows walking 
up and down the rows of newly-planted corn, while one 
sat on the fence to give an alarm if an enemy ap- 
proached, and afterward the farmer told me that there 
wasn’t much of the corn left. Another farmer told me 
that he believed that crows pull up the young corn out 
of pure mischief. He certainly has a bad reputation.” 
‘““My father told me,” said the youngest member 
of the class, known as “Baby,” “that he robs the 
Kingbird’s nest and destroys the young birds, and so 
they will drive a Crow away whenever they can.” 
“Yes,” and lots of other birds quarrel with him,” 
said one of the boys. 
Everyone had something interesting to tell, either 
from personal observation or from their reading, for 
: many writers have told about 
the curious ways of 
