CATALOaUE. 
561 
his fraternity, who speedily drove away the pair of Terns, without 
affording me the wished-for chance of a shot. Again, I have seen a 
Crow of this species pounce on a pied harrier {Circus melanoleucos), 
which was standing quietly on the bank of a rivulet, and continue to 
attack and follow it till both were out of sight. On one occasion, I 
remarked a number of Crows and Mynahs {^Pastor trisfis) collected 
around some horse-droppings on a road, when one of the Crows 
pertinaciously prevented a particular individual Mynah from par- 
taking with the rest of the party : again and again did the poor 
Mynah make the attempt, stepping round and approaching from dif- 
ferent directions, but all to no purpose ; the Crow, meanwhile, paying 
no attention to the other Mynahs of the same species, which were 
engaged in picking out the grains. But the most remarkable fact I 
have observed of this Crow was during a short sojourn at Madras, 
where a party of about twenty were in the daily habit of attending 
the breakfast of the friend at whose house I was staying, without, 
however, being allowed to enter the room. Among these were two 
blind, or rather purblind. Crows, which could just see their way 
about, without, apparently, being able to pick up small articles of 
food ; and these were regularly fed by the rest, first one and then 
another of which they followed with imploring demeanour and 
quivering wings, like a nestling, and received the morsels with the 
same gobbling note of gratulation : they were evidently old birds, • 
and perhaps aged." — (Blyth.) 
" The sagacity and vigilance of this predatory bird are too well 
known to require much in illustration of its habits ; but I have," re- 
marks the Eev. T. Phillips, in his MS. Notes, " too often myself been 
amused by witnessing the tricks, to think some short account of the 
manner in which this exceedingly cunning bird is caught by the 
natives, would not prove uninteresting. To any one conversant with 
the customs of this country [India], I need not. say that Crows, as well 
as several other kinds of birds, are in great request at large cities for 
' Sudga,' or ' Ootarus,' (Eansoms) for the sick. Hence the necessity 
with birdcatchers of having a constant and well-regulated supply on 
hand ; and as a Crow can seldom be tricked twice in the same man- 
ner, the birdcatchers have recourse to various methods of entrapping 
him. One of them is this : feeding Crows on certain occasions 
forms part of a religious ceremony with the Hindoos, and this share 
of the business is generally taken up by the women, with whom, 
accordingly. Crow s become very familiar, nay, sometimes so bold as 
to take the food from their hands. Taking advantage of this fami- 
