My grandmother, Irina Borisovna, loves to make all sorts of funny things. On a suburban plot in the village of Chernoistochinsk, a wild apple tree grows, and the grandmother wrapped a stuffed snake around the tree trunk, as in the biblical legend. The body of the kite was made from a garden hose, the head was made from foam. The entire snake is painted green with yellow speckles. Instead of eyes there are shiny buttons.

One weekend we came to the garden, and what do we see: the snake is grinning from the apple tree, but only the button eyes are gone. They were torn out with the “meat”, as they say, all the foam around was crumbled. We thought... who needed two pieces of glass, who misbehaved? Or maybe someone was bothered by his gaze? New buttons were inserted. Soon the answer came by itself, or rather flew in.

A day later, from afar, I saw a large gray bird. She aimed at the branch of that same apple tree. Something flashed in the sun in her beak. I decided to come closer, but scared the bird. The crow fluttered heavily and flew to a tall birch tree in the neighboring area.

I examined the snake - and sure enough, the eyes were gone. So that's who the button lover is! After asking my parents, I learned about the strange behavior of crows, about their passion for everything shiny, and that, when they fly to the battlefield, they peck out the eyes of fallen warriors and animals. The crow and all its relatives - jackdaws, magpies - are very fond of shiny things. Birds can steal a brooch or unscrew a “golden” button from a jacket. For them, price is not important. They often find spoons, knives, forks and many other objects in their nest.

After living in the village for a week, I noticed a lot from the behavior of the gray crow. For example, you stand in full view of a crow with a stick - it sits as if nothing had happened. Slowly take a pneumatic gun instead of a stick, start raising it to your shoulder - the crow immediately flies away. It would seem - what does it matter to her, a stupid bird, what difference does it make - a gun or a stick, but no, she understands everything!

Then it was even more surprising: he began to feed the crow (he called it Alice to himself) with dried goods that had been lying around since the summer. Alice will grab the dryer in her beak, fly with it to the road, throw it on the asphalt, sit behind the fence and wait. A car drives by and crushes the dryer, then Alice starts pecking at the crumbs. As if a person is preparing food for himself.

I decided to find out more about the crow, what kind of bird it is and why it needs a snake's eye. To do this, I read encyclopedias, articles from newspapers and magazines, and found material on the Internet. The encyclopedia for children “Birds and Beasts” introduces us to the family of corvids: “The family unites birds that are very different in appearance and lifestyle. Usually this family includes 113-120 species; 14 species nest in Russia.

Corvids are distributed throughout the globe, inhabiting a wide variety of natural zones and altitude zones, but they feel best in the vicinity of humans. First of all, we are talking about ravens, crows (do not confuse them), and jackdaws. There are several reasons for their “prosperity” in cities and villages.

Firstly, they are amazingly smart, quick-witted and know how to act “according to circumstances.” Secondly, they are practically omnivores and can find food everywhere and get it by any means. These birds have mastered the “profession” of scavengers well. The foraging skills are especially impressive.

For example, crows open trash cans, soak bread crusts in puddles, crack nuts, placing them on the rails in front of the tram, and squeeze leftover food out of tubes and plastic containers.

Large corvids serve as a traditional object of research, and some experiments with them bring amazing results. For example, it turned out that these birds are able to solve simple equations, count to 25-26, etc.” Crows have no less ability for foreign languages ​​than parrots. They easily imitate the sounds of other animals and human speech, quickly learn different phrases and always apply them appropriately.

In a kind of “table of ranks” developed by scientists, the crow, together with its closest relatives - the jackdaw, rook and raven - took the highest level in intelligence, sharing it with apes and dolphins; even dogs remained lower. Scientists observed how a crow bends a piece of wire into a hook, and then takes food out of a vessel with a narrow neck.

It is surprising that in Rus' the crow is a symbol of roteness and stupidity. In other countries, the crow is a symbol of wisdom, a “totem” bird in the tribes of North American Indians, a faithful companion of the god Odin in the Scandinavian sagas.

An excellent observation of crows was made by the English writer and naturalist E. Seton-Thompson in the story “Silver Spot”:

“Crows, as you should know, are our wisest birds. It’s not for nothing that there is a saying: “Wise as an old crow.” Crows know how much discipline means and are trained as well as soldiers. Their leaders must be not only the oldest and smartest in the flock, but also the strongest and bravest.”... “Little by little, I realized that crows are very smart, have their own language and social system, similar to that of humans.”

“He (Silver Speck Raven) dug out of the ground a pile of shells and white shiny pebbles. He laid them out in the sun, turned them, picked them up one by one in his beak and then threw them on the ground again, sat down on them as if they were eggs, amused himself with them and devoured them with his eyes, like a miser. After playing for half an hour, he again covered his treasures with earth and leaves. I immediately went to this place and examined his hiding place. It hid a pile of white pebbles, shells and pieces of tin. But I never saw these treasures again. The silver speck learned that I had found them and immediately moved them to another place. I never found out where.”

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