Search This Blog

Monday, January 30, 2023

Kakasuran !! - the fearsome crow

 Kakasuran !!  - the fearsome crow 



In our literature, Crows are social birds with tight-knight family structures that roost in huge numbers, so what do you call a group of crows? While most people call a group of birds a flock, crows, in particular, have been known by a number of terms. The most popular of these is known as a murder, but a group of crows can also be called a horde, mob, muster, or parcel.

Remember that in elementary school level, we had a lesson highlighting the intelligence of crows – that water at the jug would be too low.  Crow would collect pebbles and keep putting them inside. The water level would raise and crow would quench its thirst.  Miles away, in an  experiment   published in PLOS One, Scientists determined that crows can not only tell the difference between water and sand - they also understand water displacement.  The test involved tubes containing water and a treat floating on top out of reach. The crows filled the tubes with enough rocks or other heavy items to bring the food within reach. They were observed snapping twigs from trees, then stripping it of bark and leaves, and fashioned the node into a hook. They then used these tools to probe into small spaces for food.

One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret - Never to be told, Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten for a bird, Eleven is worse; Twelve for a dastardly curse.  In Britain, this has been old belief and in  1780,  a note in John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities on Lincolnshire has this lyric.  A version of the rhyme became familiar to many UK children when it became the theme tune of an ITV children's TV show called Magpie, which ran from 1968 to 1980. The popularity of this version is thought to have displaced the many regional versions that had previously existed.   

Interesting !
 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
30.1.2023

No comments:

Post a Comment