CLERK AND THE LAST RAVENS 261 



family wlio were then the owners of Avington tliought 

 it W(nild ho iiUcrc'stin<,' to have some tame ravens as 

 pets, anil the young champion cliniher was instructed 

 to take the fledgelings from the nest in the park. 



When he gt)t up to the nest he was surprised to find 

 six birds, half-Hedged; and he took them all, and all 

 were safely reared at the house. These birds when 

 grown remained perfectly tame although they were 

 never pinioned; they spent most of their time flying 

 about the park and outside of it, but invariably came to 

 the house to be fed and to roost. 



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 informant actually wit- 

 nessed 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-grov.'n 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 



