CHAPTEK XII. 
A BIRD WITH A BAD NAME . 
T HE next bird-talk began with the crow. 
“ A poor persecuted bird/’ said Miss Harson, 
“ whom no one speaks well of ; yet he really has some 
very good points about him. We must find out this 
evening what they are.” 
“ Why, doesn’t he eat up all the corn and things ?” 
asked Malcolm in surprise. “ Patrick says that the 
crows are the plague of his life, and that he’ll kill 
all of them he can get hold of.” 
“ They certainly do not eat all the corn,” replied 
the governess, “ as there is usually some left for fam- 
ily use ; and Patrick only shares the popular preju- 
dice. Hear what a writer whom we have often heard 
before says of the crow (Fig. 11): ‘This is perhaps 
the most generally known and least beloved of all 
our land-birds, having neither melody of song, nor 
beauty of plumage, nor excellence of flesh, nor civil- 
ity of manners to recommend him ; on the contrary, 
he is branded as a thief and a plunderer — a kind of 
black-coated vagabond, who hovers over the fields of 
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