White-Necked Raven


"Quark, quark,"
they yelled, all in the
while settling nearer,--
or so I fancied--
till it seemed
as if they actually
meant violence.

As they often use
old haywire
and cast-off barbed wire
in their nests,
these cause short circuits;
this has cost
one telephone company
$2,500 to $5,500
annually to patrol the line
and keep it clear.

They pounded the air
in vain effort
to outfly their tormentors,
dove to the ground
but were forced
to take wing again,
circled and beat
and tacked to no purpose,
and finally began mounting
steadily in big circles, taking
their punishment
as they went, the
smaller birds keeping above
and beating down on them
in succession until
all were specks
in the sky,
and finally lost to view.