Crows like to live near the sea. They catch small fish. They carry shell-fish high up in the air in their claws, and let them drop on a rock. The fall breaks the shells and the crows fly down and pick out what is inside. The jackdaw and the magpie are cousins of the crow. They also eat flesh. They are larger than the crow, and have some white in their plumage. They can both be taught to speak. The jackdaw likes to carry off and hide things. I knew one that lived in a garden, where some swans were kept on a pond. The naughty jackdaw would go and carry off all the swans’ food and hide it. If we walked near his hiding-places, he would run after us and peck our shoes. The gardener had to put a wire fence all around the pond, and clip the daw’s wings so that he could not fly over the fence to rob the swans. A much larger bird than these is the turkey buzzard. He is about the size of a small turkey, and is of a faded black color. His head and neck are bare of feathers. The skin of the head and neck is reddish and wrinkled. It has a little black hair and down on it. The bill is very large and hooked. The feet are also very large. This is the least handsome of all our birds, and no one likes it. The reason of the dislike is, the bad odor the bird has. This odor comes from the decayed animal food which the buzzard eats. But it is this very habit of eating spoiled food which makes the poor bird so useful to us. The buzzard has a swift flight and a keen eye. It can see its dead food far off. When you see three or four buzzards wheeling in the air, you may be sure that some dead animal lies on the ground below them. Any one who knows how the carcass of a sheep, cow, dog, or cat will infect the air for miles about, will feel glad that the buzzards like to eat such things. The buzzards strip off all the ill-smelling flesh, and leave only clean white bones. The buzzard is a very mild, quiet bird. It never fights, and never eats any live prey. It tears up no corn, and carries off no little chicks. In most States there is a law against killing a buzzard. The buzzard makes no nest. It finds a hollow stump, or a broken tree, and lays two or four eggs on the decayed wood. The eggs are about the size of goose eggs. They have brown spots on them. The young ones are covered with down like young goslings. Buzzards are American birds. The large carrion crow, or black vulture, is a bird much like the buzzard in its habits. But it lives farther south, is seen in greater numbers, and is not so shy. They are often tamed, and kept near the markets to clean up offal. They like to sit on the chimney tops to enjoy the warm air that rises. Dogs and black vultures will feed together on a carcass. But if the dogs crowd the birds too much, the vultures will hiss at them. These black vultures do good service by eating up alligators’ eggs.