262 



the effect of immediately driving them all up, when he 

 would give vent to a series of caws in which it was 

 quite easy to detect the note of banter and self satis- 

 faction. His next move was always an attempt to up- 

 set their bath. This was an enamelled dish about i8 

 inches long, and although by this time a good deal of 

 the water had been splashed overboard, the under- 

 taking was uaturall}^ in the way of considerabh^ over- 

 taxing his powers. Still, with the pertinacity which 

 is an attribute of most birds when once their narrow 

 intellect has settled on an object, he would persevere 

 in his efforts, sometimes for nearly an hour, and when 

 as often happened he was successful, his delight was 

 unbounded, as evidenced by his grotesque hops and 

 jumps and the frantic yellings of his only note. 



I was very interested, soon after he came, to see 

 him secrete those portions of food which, at the time, 

 he did not want. Many times I watched him do this 

 from my dining room window with the aid of a pair 

 of glasses. Sometimes he would merely hide a frag- 

 ment under the overhanginglower leavesof a geranium, 

 and this appeared to be his favourite dodge — possiblj^ 

 because it was the easiest. At others he would place 

 the piece of meat, or whatever it was, on the ground 

 at the foot of a rose tree or grape vine, and then care- 

 fully cover it over with small stones. Once or twice I 

 was fortunate enough to detect him going to a hiding 

 place when hungry and making use of his savings, but 

 as he was always kept well supplied with food both 

 here and in his old home, I fancy that in secreting his 

 morsels he was rather obeying the dictates of race 

 habit than exercising any active and individual in- 

 tellectual process with a view to the future. 



