[මෙම පාඩම පසුව සිංහලට පරිවර්තනය කර, පළ කරනු ඇත!]

{This Lesson would be translated into Sinhalese & published later!}

Everybody knows the crow, and everybody must have seen one, unless he is blind. And even then he will have heard it. When once we have heard it we never forget the sound. It is very harsh, as if the bird were rattling pebbles deep in its throat. With their cawing crows wake us early in the morning.

Crows follow people as they settle on land and build villages. For they know that people throw away much rubbish which is food for them. Besides that they know that men dig in gardens and farmers plough the earth. So they fly down and hop around, to pick up grubs and worms which the spade or plough has brought up. They become so tame that they will stand .around you close to your feet if you have any food to give them. They are very cunning and impudent, and will come into a house and snatch food up and fly away with it on to a roof or into a tree. One year when it was very hot all the birds round our house in Hyderabad suffered very much from thirst. They all flew about with their beaks wide open as if they were choking. So on the roof of one of the rooms all day and all night I kept basins full of cool water. It was too hot in May for me to study, so I used to watch the birds and squirrels that came to drink. All the time they kept coming, and it made me very happy to see how they enjoyed drinking and bathing in the water.

But I had much trouble with the crows. They were great bullies and drove away the smaller birds. They would bring dirty bones they had picked up, and drop them into the basins. Then they would drink greedily, holding their heads back as they swallowed. Next they would get into the water and wash themselves, splashing noisily. But the worst thing they did was to lift up the basins with their beaks before they went .away, and tip out the water, so that no other creatures could get any to drink until I filled them again.