370 Life and Immortality. 
it good-naturedly and decorously, and was ever afterward on 
the alert for these little tricks of her canine friend. 
Birds can be as capable of cheating, not only each other, 
but other animals. A crow, belonging to John Smedley, a 
resident of Lima, Pa., was an adept in the business. When 
dinner was preparing, he would fly around the corner of the 
house, set up a terrific cawing as though in great distress, 
and when the mistress of the house, with whom he was a 
great favorite, would come out on a tour of investigation, 
the rascally bird would elude her and manage to steal round 
to the table in the opposite direction and seize what food 
suited him the best, which he would carry to the top of the 
house, where he would eat it at his leisure. No persuasions 
would induce him to come down, for he knew that such 
action was a breach of the peace, and he was fearful of the 
punishment, that of confinement to a cage, which would fol- 
low. When, however, he felt assured that his mistress had 
forgiven the wrong-doing, he would fly down to the porch, 
and do his utmost to convince her that he was a well-mean- 
ing bird, and that he was thoroughly ashamed of his actions. 
But there was one member of the family that utterly de- 
tested the bird. It was the dog Rover. Many a trick had 
the bird practised upon the latter, especially at meal time. 
Poor Rover was not allowed to eat in peace. When he 
would be wholly absorbed in his dinner, the crow would 
approach him in the rear, give him a severe twirl of the tail, 
and then in a twinkling fly to one side, looking the very 
picture of innocence. But ere the dog had recovered his self- 
possession and was ready to resume his feeding again, the bird 
had captured the daintiest morsel, and was off to the tree-top. 
Discomfited and outwitted, the dog would rush to the base of 
the tree, bark his growls of anger and defiance, while the crow 
would look quizzically down from above, and chuckle with 
delight. 
Many of my readers may, perhaps, remember the story of 
the two dogs that used to hunt the hare in concert, the one 
