“Okay, Sparrow, see you tomorrow. Come to me first if necessary!” Sparrow nodded and shut the door. He was normally quite cheerful, jumping about, flying while speaking, and things like that. But there was none of that today; and the reason was this: Creeping around Bird Forest, where the birds lived, was a FOX. The only reason why Crow didn't know about him was that he didn't read The Daily Bird, the birds' newspaper. Otherwise he would have known that a Birdlympics gold medal winner had gone to Bird Prison, where the birds went to do bird, and he would have known that King Bluetit II had had a baby, but most of all he would have known there was a FOX stealing around Bird Forest looking for crows to eat.
Crow hopped along the mossy path, singing “La la TWEET, la la TWEET” in no particular tune at all. He kept hearing these odd things from birds around him saying things like “Keep up the tweeting!” and “I like your singing!” and, in response to that, “Yeah, so do I.......wait, WHAT are you singing?” and “How long was it since you last had singing practice?” So he decided to stop, and just carry on trotting down the muddy path, when he heard a VOICE. A booming VOICE shouting “AH, I SEE YOUR LITTLE PLAN. AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH IT!”
Crow turned around and saw a FOX. He towered above Crow and his claws were the same size as Crow's whole feet. His whiskers were the same height as what an ELEPHANT would be to us. “WELL, HELLO;” the booming voice said, “WHAT HAVE WE HERE?” The small, tweeting voice of the crow stammered, “III aam Cccrowww, anddd I aam beggging you tto sspare mmy liffe.” “OKAY,” the voice answered, “LET US HAVE A RACE. IF I WIN, I WILL EAT YOU. IF YOU WIN, I WILL SPARE YOUR LIFE. NOW I WILL CHOOSE WHEN, AS IT PLEASES ME. I'LL GIVE YOU HALF AN HOUR TO BE HERE. GOODBYE, FOOD!” and off he sped.
Crow took that half an hour to invite friends, all the birds who lived there, in fact. There was Owl, Blackbird and Swan, there was Ostrich, Duck, and Parrot, and Sparrow, Bluebird and Peregine Falcon, and finally Eagle, Robin and Flamingo. Now all of these creatures liked Crow but disliked Fox, so “Carry on, crow!” was all they cheered throughout the race.
Fox took the lead all the way through the race, which made them call even louder, “CARRY ON, CROW!” Crow just ran, about 3 metres behind him all the way through, until Parrot said “Fly!” Now Crow liked taking friends' advice. So he swooped up, up, into the air and won by a fraction of a second.
So that is how the carrion crow got its name. And ever since, all species of animal, not just bird and human, have called Crow's species of crow a “Carrion Crow”.
