garden-house 'on Choultry Plain.' As he stood in the shade of a small tree near the office, a crow came flying towards him with a familiar caw of welcome which made him feel in touch with the home he had left six months before.
Crows, like owls, lizards, and other creatures, are supposed by the natives to be indications of good and evil. A single bird cawing upon the roof or in the verandah before noon is telling good news or bad, according to the peculiar utterance of its note. After twelve o’clock if it comes 'to talk,' the servants say that it is only asking for food. The variety of expression in the caw of an Indian crow is remarkable. It seems to express curiosity, satisfaction, complaint, surprise, interspersed with wicked chuckles and bad words. Crows hold club meetings on the roof of the verandah for the ostensible purpose of talking scandal and relating naughty stories, but all the while their watchful eyes are upon the cookroom. If the kitchen boy is rash enough to bring a basket to the bungalow with any portion of its contents exposed, the crows swoop down upon it and clear off the contents in a very short time.
The opinion of the native concerning the bird is expressed in a Tamil saying. 'Put out the eyes of a young kurnam and a young crow. Both are bad.' A kurnam is a village accountant.
