“Birds’ eggs are usually remarkable for their beauty, both in shape and in color; and for this reason, if for no other, they merit our attention. But it is no idle or merely ornamental accomplishment to be able to distinguish one from another, to know whether any given egg belongs to a useful species that should be respected or to a harmful species that should not be allowed to breed in the vicinity of our fields and gardens. With this end in view I have already told you the characteristic marks of the eggs of our principal birds of prey, some of which eggs should be destroyed without any consideration, while others should be protected. As this is a matter that interests you, I will continue in the same way and will describe the eggs of those birds that we are still to talk about. “Know, then, that ravens’ eggs are much more beautifully colored than might be expected from the somber plumage of the bird. They are bluish green, with brown spots. This background of bluish green, sometimes lighter and sometimes darker, occurs again, together with the brown spots, in the eggs of crows, magpies, jays, blackbirds, thrushes, and fieldfares, birds that resemble one another closely in their bodily structure, despite their marked differences in size, plumage, and habits. The eggs of certain blackbirds and fieldfares are of a magnificent sky-blue color. “The raven is an omnivorous creature: fruit, larvæ, insects, sprouting grain, flesh, whether in a fresh condition or otherwise, all suit it equally well; but its favorite fare is carrion, which it knows how to find a long way off, guided by sight and smell. Wherever there is a dead animal, there the raven makes its appearance and contends for the loathsome quarry with dogs. The habit of gorging itself with this infected food gives it a repulsive odor. For lack of dead prey—the sort most acceptable to its tastes, its great appetite, and its cowardice—the raven hunts such live prey as young hares and young rabbits, and other small and destructive rodents. It pilfers from birds’ nests both eggs and new-born birds, a succulent banquet for its young; and it even has the boldness to carry off little chickens from poultry-yards. Without offering the slightest plea in its favor, I leave the raven to the hatred it has always incurred by reason of its funereal plumage, its forbidding aspect, its sinister croaking, repulsive odor, filthy greed, and savage disposition.” CHAPTER XXI THE CROW “In France we have four kinds of crows: the black crow, the mantled daw, the rook or harvest crow, and the jackdaw or little belfry crow.