256 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



As time went on it was observed that the old birds 

 became more and more jealous of their presence in 

 their territory and from day to day they persecuted 

 them with increasing fury. The young accustomed 

 to be fed at the house refused to leave the place, as 

 the young reared annually in the nest are invariably 

 compelled to do; and the result was that one by one 

 they were killed by their savage parents. My inform- 

 ant actually witnessed the killing of one of them: 

 the young bird tried to escape by flying to the house, 

 but was buffeted with such fury that in the end it 

 was borne down to the earth in the park and was 

 then quickly done to death by the savage blows of 

 the two powerful beaks. 



There are other birds just as intolerant of the 

 presence of their full-grown young as the raven. This 

 is the case with our robin redbreast, but in the case 

 of this species it is the cock bird only that fights, and 

 the fight is thus a more equal one. The young bird 

 sometimes conquers the old one. In the raven, the 

 mother bird hates her children as much as the father 

 does, and as they fight in company, playing into each 

 other's hands, and take their young one by one, they 

 are invariably the victors. 



