76 Correspondence


method of stabbing the body seems to be due "to instinct, and not

learnt by individual experience. The Raven's behaviour recalls the

cracking of snail shells, which a writer, Miss Frances Pitt, considers is

" probably learnt by personal experience " in young Thrushes (Ann. &

Mag. Nat. Hist. 1919, pp. 529-31) — an opinion with which I cannot

agree from personal observations on these birds.


In support of the view that the action in Ravens is not learnt by

personal experience after leaving the nest, the. Rev. Bancks informed

me most emphatically (he not knowing " the drift " of my question)

that his bird " did not attack the head ".


When we consider that adult Brown Rats can bite sharply in self-

defence, I should have thought a Raven, if the method was learnt by

after experience, and was not instinctive, would have first attacked the

rat in the head to put it out of action, previous to delivering the blow

at the body of the rat. What is the experience of other people who

have fed Ravens on live rats ? Do these birds vary in method of

killing such prey ?


It might also be of interest to heir what a Raven would do with

a full-grown adder — whether attack it in the head, or whether disable

its spinal column before attempting to eat it — if any reader has made

observations on such.


Frederick D. Welch.


21st April, 1921.



FOOD OF SWAINSON'S LORIKEET


Sirs, — Referring to Dr. Maurice Amsler'e letter on food for birds in


the January number, I had a Swainson's Lorikeet some years ago when


I was in Egypt.


It was fed upon whole rice, very heavily sugared and boiled in water.


It also had seed, but I do not think it ate very much of it. I gave it


the sweet rice on advice given me at the Giza Zoological Gardens. The


bird occasionally had a date, slit, and the slit filled with honey. It


was very fond of this, but did not care for other fruit, oranges, etc.


The people I gave the bird to when I left the country fed it as I had


done myself, and I know that it thrived for four years or more.


J. W. H. Seppings.

The Castle, Capetown.



