On the Australian mainland a familiar crow <br />The Australian raven everyone seem to know <br />Their long drawn out caws one can never mistake <br />Echo in the paddocks just after daybreak, <br />Common corvids that country folk see every day <br />The male and female pair for life those who know of birds say <br />High on a tree in a flat nest of sticks lined with wool and hay <br />In Spring four to five spotted brown green eggs the female bird lay, <br />That they alledgedly kill young lambs is their greatest offence <br />But on this one modern science has come to their defence <br />It has been proved they only kill lambs that are too weak to live <br />So for their minor crimes farmers them can forgive <br />And since they kill harmful insects and slugs every day <br />They do help the farmers in quite a big way.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-australian-raven/
