A CURIOUS TRAIT 197 



little, the cockatoo flew off; then there was a tremendous 

 uproar among the crows, which, with one accord, gave 

 chase. The clamour continued for some time, but I 

 did not again see the cockatoo. The poor bird must 

 eventually have been torn to pieces by the crows, 

 unless he was rescued by his owner. Probably not one 

 of those crows had previously set eyes on a cockatoo. 

 They therefore could not have had any scores to pay 

 off. They merely mobbed him because he was a 

 strange, bizarre, living object, and their instinct teaches 

 them to regard all such creatures as their enemies. 



In Oudh, last cold weather, I put up a large owl out 

 of a mango-tree. It was in the middle of the day and 

 the crows were about. Two of them caught sight of 

 the owl during his short flight to the next tree, and at 

 once proceeded to mob him. They took up a position 

 on each side of him, sitting as close to him as possible, 

 so that he was literally wedged in between them. 

 Neither crow, however, seemed inclined to commence 

 the attack. 



In a campaign of this kind, the words " masterly 

 inactivity " may be said to sum up corvine tactics. 

 The owl was not enjoying himself, for, in addition to 

 having a "ribald crow" on each side of him, I was 

 looking at him from below. He therefore took to 

 flight. The crows gave chase, taking pecks at his back. 

 I could not follow the rest of the hunt, since, as organs 

 of progression, legs are no match for wings. Presently, 

 however, the two crows returned to the Bagh and, 

 judging by their cries of exultation, one at least of 

 them must have secured a beakful of owl's feathers ! 



