274 INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. 



which confined the spring had not been with- 

 drawn. The ring was then removed, and on 

 visiting the nest afterwards, the female was 

 found caught by the feet. This change of cha- 

 racter in so watchful and quicksighted a bird as 

 the buzzard, is certainly very surprising, and 

 must baffle every attempt to connect it with any 

 intellectual process. 



A highly interesting anecdote illustrative of the 

 attachment of the raven to its eggs, is thus 

 admirably related by Mr. White.* '* In the centre 

 of a grove there stood an oak, which, though 

 shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into 

 a large excrescence about the middle of the 

 stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed their 

 residence for such a series of years, that the 

 oak was distinguished by the title of the Raven- 

 tree. Many were the attempts of the neigh- 

 bouring youths to get at this eyry : the difficulty 

 whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious 

 of surmounting the arduous task. But, when 

 they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in 

 their way and was so far beyond their grasp, 

 that the most daring lads were awed, and ac- 

 knowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. 

 So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect 



♦ Natural History of Selborne, p. 6. 



