322 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



vigorously for a few minutes in removing the sand, they came 

 round to the other side, and putting their breasts simultaneously 

 to the fish, they succeeded in raising it some inches from the 

 sand, but were unable to turn it over. It went down again 

 into its sandy bed, to the manifest disappointment of the three. 

 Resting, however, for a space, and without leaving their 

 respective positions, which were a little apart the one from the 

 other, they resolved, it appears, to give the work another tri 1. 

 Lowering themselves, with their breasts pressed close to the 

 sand, they managed to push their bills underneath the fish, 

 which they made to rise about the same height as before. 

 Afterwards, withdrawing their bills, but without losing the 

 advantage which they had gained, they applied their breasts to 

 the object. This they did with such force, and to such purpose, 

 that at length it went over, and rolled several yards down a 

 slight declivity. It was followed to some distance by the birds 

 themselves before they could recover their bearing. 1 



I shall now bring this chapter to a close by presenting 

 all the evidence that I have been able to collect with 

 regard to the punishment of malefactors among rooks. 



Goldsmith, who used constantly to observe a rookery 

 from his window, says that the selection of a site for the 

 building of a nest is a matter of much anxious delibera- 

 tion on the part of a young crow couple ; the male and 

 female t examining all the trees of a grove very atten- 

 tively, and when they have fixed upon a branch that seems 

 fit for their purpose, they continue to sit upon it, and 

 observe it very sedulously for two or three days longer : ' 



It often happens that the young couple have made choice of 

 a place too near the mansion of an older pair, who do not 

 choose to be incommoded by such troublesome neighbours ; a 

 quarrel, therefore, instantly ensues, in which the old ones are 

 always victorious. The young couple, thus expelled, are obliged 

 again to go through their fatigues deliberating, examining, 

 and choosing ; and, having taken care to keep their due distance, 

 the nest begins again, and their industry deserves commen- 

 dation. But their activity is often too great in the beginning ; 

 they soon grow weary of bringing the materials of their nests 

 from distant places, and they very early perceive that sticks 

 may be provided nearer home, with less honesty indeed, but 

 some degree of address. Away they go, therefore, to piifer as 

 fast as they can, and, whenever they see a nest unguarded, thoy 



1 Smiles, Life of Edward, pp. 244-fi. 



