HUNTED DOWN. 



HE members of the Crow Family are generally associated with gloomy 

 thoughts and funereal events, chiefly perhaps from their dress of black that 

 seems to array them in a garb of mourning ; and if it was to indicate the 

 want of many good qualities that their sable plumage was bestowed upon them, it 

 certainly was not given unnecessarily. Thieves by nature, they make away with 

 everything that attracts their attention, when it is not too bulky for them to remove, 

 and with the same instincts as those possessed by their relatives the magpie and 

 jay, they hide their booty in some chosen place of concealment. The anxiously- 

 watched contents of the nest placed amid the heather on the hill-side is a great 

 treasure-trove for the wandering Crows, and many a pair of grouse have been 

 roughly despoiled by these winged robbers. They regard the field newly-sown 

 with corn, as prepared for their especial benefit ; and, so great is their impatience, 

 they can hardly restrain themselves from digging up the grain with their strong 

 bills until the labourers have left the ground. But, added to their unattractive robes 

 is the discordant ^oice, that seemingly in mockery of all tuneful notes, grates upon the 

 ear at every moment, as though its owner was ever deriding the warblers that make 

 the groves resound with their melody. Being also about the only feathered creatures 

 that remain in certain localities all the year, unmindful of the changing seasons, 

 and always familiar objects, swaying upon the dead limb, when all nature lies 

 lifeless beneath the white robe of winter, we associate with these birds the saddest 



