anks.
The crows are very like those at home, except that these little fellows
have slate-colored necks, and are much more bold.

If a window or door is left open, it will not be a minute before one or
more crows will arrive and look about in search of food. If you chance
to leave any thing about that is eatable, it is seized and carried off
in an instant.

There is a great park here, known as the Maidan, where dogs run with
bones to pick; and this habit of the dogs suits the crows perfectly, for
they always try to get away the bones, and often succeed too. This is
the way they usually go to work. The first crow that sees a dog with a
bone calls all his friends, and off they fly to where the dog is. There
they alight, and stand around him.

Then they talk to one another. Perhaps one says, in crow language, "This
is an ugly cur;" another says, "He has crooked legs;" another, "His tail
is cut off;" and so they keep talking until the dog gets angry, and with
a snap and a bark, tries to drive them away. This only makes them laugh;
and they begin again to torment the dog by talking, and even by jumping
upon his back, and pulling his tail.

Now, no dog of any spirit will stand this insult. So he springs up in a
rage, to punish the saucy birds. That is precisely what the crows want;
for, as soon as he turns his head around to bite one crow, another darts
down, seizes the bone, and carries it away. Then how they do laugh at
the poor dog! and isn't he angry!

We have also a bird commonly called a "kite," but often called the
"Indian swallow," as it sails about in the air just as our home swallows
do. It does not seize its food with its bill, as the crow does, but with
its claws or talons, and eats as it flies. Now, the crow can't help
tormenting something; and the kite often gets his share of their
attention.

I have seen crows sit on a fence on both sides of a kite, and provoke
him by their talk, just as one boy often provokes another by saying
saucy little things. At first the kite pretends not to care; but very
soon his feathers ruffle, and he flies at a crow, as if to tear him in
pieces. The crow is quick and darts away, but returns just as soon as
the kite flies at another crow. And in this way the crows amuse
themselves for a long time.

It is believed here that crows hold meetings, and decide upon the
punishment due to other crows that have been bad; for they have often
been seen to gather in large numbers, and, a