On Jackdaws

Long before time it did become my foe In Ireland where i lived a long time ago Of some of their habits i did get to know Jackdaws a small breed of Eurasian crow Birds in feathers of black and gray That i did hear and did see every day Of human beings they were never too shy They would allow you to come close to them before they would fly In Spring they liked to adorn their stick nests with coloured things Such as small beads and bits of jewellery and shiny rings Many househoders did look on them as a pest As on chimney tops some of them liked to build their stick nest And when the room of the fire range did fill up with smoke To the angry householder this was not a joke And they cursed the small corvids in black and gray Since to clean their chimneys a chimney sweep they had to pay Compared to most species of corvids in size they seem small And different in their voices with more vary in their call Jackdaws i knew of a long time ago Long before time it did become my foe.