254 



BIEDS. 



[Chap. VIII. 



growth of cinnamon by feeding on the fruit, and thus 

 disseminating the undigested seed. 1 



So accustomed are the natives to their presence and ex- 

 ploits, that, like the Greeks and Komans, they have made 

 the movements of crows the basis of their auguries; 

 and there is no end to the vicissitudes of good and evil 

 fortune which may not be predicted from the direction 

 of their flight, the hoarse or mellow notes of their croak- 

 ing, the variety of trees on which they rest, and the 

 numbers in which they are seen to assemble. 



All day long these birds are engaged in watching either 

 the offal of the offices, or the preparation for meals in 

 the dining-room : and as doors and windows are neces- 

 sarily opened to relieve the heat, nothing is more com- 

 mon than the passage of a crow across the room, lifting on 

 the wing some ill-guarded morsel from the dinner-table. 

 No article, however unpromising its quality, provided 

 only it be portable, can with safety be left unguarded in 

 any apartment accessible to them. The contents of 

 ladies' work-boxes, kid gloves, and pocket handkerchiefs 

 vanish instantly if exposed near a window or open door. 

 They open paper parcels to ascertain the contents ; they 

 will undo the knot on a napkin if it encloses anything 

 eatable, and I have known a crow to extract the peg 

 which fastened the lid of a basket in order to plunder 

 the provender within. 



On one occasion a nurse seated in a garden adjoining 

 a regimental mess-room, was terrified by seeing a bloody 

 clasp-knife drop from the air at her feet ; but the mys- 

 tery was explained on learning that a crow, which had 

 been watching the cook chopping mince-meat, had seized 



1 Wolf's Life and Adventures, p. 117. 



