The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-16


 whole court falls upon the unhappy
 prisoners, and they are promptly exter-
 minated, after which the court rises,
 and the crows disperse each to his own
 district
 Not only do crows hold courts of oyer
 and terminer, but, according to the
 Rev. Dr. Edmund Cox, rocks likewise
 meet together for this purpose. One
 day when he was riding along a quiet
 road in the vicinity of Norwich, he was startled by a great eawing which pro | ceeded from an adjoining rookery, The
 reverend gentleman alighted from This | horse, tied it to a gate, and, concealing himself behind the trunk of a large tree, managed to obtain a view of the pro- ceedings. Surrounded by some forty or | fifty elamorous and indignant rocks, he saw what was apparently the criminal, who had been put upon his trial. AL though at first perky and jaunty, the | prisoner, after some minutes of cawing, lost his gayety and appeared much as did the famous jackdaw of Rheims after
 the cardinal had cursed him with bell book, and candle. That the jury found him guilty may be gathered from the
 
 closed in upon him and speedily pecked him to death, after which they all cawed
 vociferously for some minutes and then departed.
 ornithologists are of the opinion that young rocks are addicted to offering and that when the robbery is detected
 the thieves are invariably punished for the felonious conduct. It has been mo- ticed that during the spring young rocks will steal twigs, etc., from the nests Of their elders, with which to build their own domiciles, The rock is too cunning to be caught in flagrante delicto, but will wait until the old rocks are away, and then commence his dep relations. The theft is, as a rule al- ways found out, and, on the thief being convicted. eight or ten rocks proceed at once to the nest of the robber, and by
 way of punishment scatter his newly made house to the four winds That the sparrow should be likewise up to date, and likewise have his system of police, is but natural. MT. George Gar rot, in his Novelties of Instinct" de- clares that sparrow which has com mitted a wrong, particularly if 1t be that class which comes under the head of mala prohibita, is dealt with sum marily Four or five sparrows are dep uted by the court to punish the offender, which consists in their flying after the culprit and pecking him soundly, after which he obtains pardon and is received back into the community.
 More tragic Is the following story, for which certain Father Bougraut Is res ponsible, concerning a theft committed by a sparrow and the dire punishment which overlook the thief A sparrow, finding a nest which martin had just built annexed 1t for his own use. The martin, as is natural, objected to this mode of acquiring property, and re- quested the sparrow to give him pos session. On the sparrow refusing to quit, the martin ealled ppn his friends for help, and several hundreds of mar tins came and attacked the usufpliag sparrow. Like Brer Terfapin, the spar row lay low" and presenting his large beak at the aperture of the nest severe ly pecked several injudicious martins which came within hisipeach. After a quarter os an hours unequal war the martins withdrew freR1~the field, and the sparrow began to congra tulate him self upon his superior strategic quaii- ties. But, alasl Nemesis was upon his track. In short time the martins re- turned, each bearing some of the tenn pered earth with which they make 1T cir nests, With one accord they all fell upon the sparrow, and plastered theI hole over with soft earth, enclosing him in the stolen nest much In tile same way as We're the guilty VestalSNirgins, and with probably a similar result
 Even in our common law, with all it's boasted advantages, circumstantial evil dence has been the means of la ring many an innocent man, so it is not to be wondered at that innocent birds have been done to death by a feathered judge and jury through the same mea'.s. Bishop Stanley tells us that French surgeon at Smyrna, being unable to pro- cure stcrx because of the great yoner- ation in which these birds are ed by the Turks, took the eggs from a ttork's nest and put hens eggs In their rlaee. The female stork in ail innocence, matched the chickens. This, it would appear, was more than the male { ;orlS l could stand. He at once desarfed the | partner of his joys and sorrows. and was not seen for three or four days, | At length he returned in company Y th | many other storks who. forming a cir