So, Mother, do tell us all you can think of about elephants, bears,
and lions, as well as dogs, and cats, and birds."

"I have laid up in my memory two or three dog and cat stories, which
I will tell you, and then I will see what I can remember of lions,
bears, and elephants. But first I must tell you what I have lately
read about courts of justice among the crows."

"What is a court of justice?" asked Harry.

"A court of justice is an assemblage of men who meet together to
ascertain if any one who is accused of doing a wrong thing has
really done it or not. If he is proved to have committed the
offence, he is declared to be guilty; if he is not proved to have
done it, he is declared not guilty.

A writer on the history of the Feroe Islands describes these
extraordinary courts as if he had witnessed them. He says, these
crow-courts are observed here (in the Feroe Islands) as well as in
the Scotch Isles. The crows collect in great numbers, as if they had
been all summoned for the occasion. A few of the flock sit with
drooping heads, others seem as grave as if they were judges, and
some are exceedingly active and noisy, like lawyers and witnesses;
in the course of about an hour the company generally disperse, and
it is not uncommon, after they have flown away, to find one or two
left dead on the spot.

Dr. Edmondstone, in his View of the Shetland Islands, says that
sometimes the crow-court, or meeting, does not appear to be complete
before the expiration of a day or two,--crows coming from all