l66 NETHER LOCHABER. 



was very annoying, as you may believe, morning after morning to 

 find the fresli and pearly shell at the nest's side, its contents 

 abstracted through a gaping hole in its bulge, instead of the snowy 

 treasure, totus, teres atque rotundus, as it should be. Appealed to 

 for such assistance as we could render in detecting and punishing 

 the culprit, whoever he might be, we began by setting a. trap for 

 ground vermin, properly baited, and as cunningly as possible 

 placed, but without result. Determined, however, to discover the 

 petty larcenist, if possible, we took advantage of an idle forenoon 

 last week to sit and watch the nest from a distance, our object 

 in the first instance being to find out who the depredator really 

 was ; we could afterwards and at our leisure take such steps as 

 ■we might deem advisable for his capture. Selecting a convenient 

 spot whence we could see without being seen, and provided with a 

 powerful binocular, we watched and waited with the most 

 exemplary diligence and patience, and were rewarded, after some 

 time, by discovering the culprit to be neither rat, stoat, nor weasel, 

 nor other quadrupedal marauder, but a common crow, or rook 

 rather — Corvus frugilegus, Linnnsus calls him, though Corrms 

 omnivorus would be nearer the mark — a large old male bird, as 

 he afterwards proved to be, who had doubtless in his day sucked 

 many an egg and sacked many a homestead of its callow fledglings. 

 We first observed him alighting on the branch of a large ash tree, 

 vphenoe he had a full view of the nest, and there he sat with much 

 patience, preening his feathers, and uttering an occasional craa, as 

 if to encourage the hen in her labours. No sooner did the latter, 

 having deposited her egg, leave the nest with the usual cackle of 

 self-congratulation, than Monsieur Corvus glided from his perch, 

 and in a twinkling, by the dexterous use of head and bill, had the 

 egg rolled out on the grass by the nest's side. Turning it round 

 and round, and rolling it over and over, stepping back at times as 

 if the better to contemplate its pearly Avhiteuess and handsome 



