The Raven of the Pampas 



these two remarkable birds deserves notice. 

 The raven, as every one knows, is not always 

 absolutely constant to his sable plumage, like so 

 many black birds, and in the Faroe Islands a 

 pied variety used to be constantly present in 

 small numbers, though now apparently extinct. 



The caracara is also subject to albinism, a form 

 in which the usual brownish-black is replaced by 

 pale grey being sometimes met with. There 

 is one such bird at present in the Zoological 

 Gardens, and others have been exhibited there. 

 Now Mr. Durnford, working in Patagonia, found 

 pale-coloured caracaras unusually common there, 

 although he did not observe such specimens in 

 Buenos Ayres. Thus it would seem that in both 

 cases the abnormally pale plumage tends to be 

 locally limited. 



As both raven and caracara bear captivity well 

 — one of the specimens of the latter at the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens having lived there for twenty 

 years — and will live in the same aviary, it ought 

 to be possible for any Zoological Gardens to 

 furnish the entertaining spectacle of these two 

 amusing and unscrupulous birds playing off their 

 respective intelligences against each other. And 

 now that our London institution is extending the 

 system of large aviaries, it may not be too much 

 to hope for that the experiment may yet be made 

 in Regent's Park. 



9' 



