ROOKS AND CROWS 53 



the part of the latter, and a slightly more giving- 

 way one on that of the former bird. One apparent 

 instance of this I have certainly seen. In this case, 

 two rooks who were enjoying a dead rat between 

 them, walked very tamely away from it, when a crow 

 came up ; and, later, when they again had the rat, a 

 pair of crows hopping down upon them, side by 

 side, in a very bold and piratical manner, again made 

 them retreat, with hardly a make-believe of resist- 

 ance. But one of these two crows may have been the 

 bird that had come up before, and the rat may have 

 belonged to it and its mate, by right of first dis- 

 covery, which, in important finds, there is, I think, 

 a tendency to respect, even if it needs some amount 

 of enforcing. I have observed this when rooks and 

 hooded crows have been gathered together about 

 some oiFal which they were devouring. One or, at 

 most, two birds seemed always to be in possession, 

 whilst the rest stood around. For any other to 

 insinuate itself into a place at the table was an affair 

 demanding caution, nor could he do so without 

 making himself liable to an attack, serious in pro- 

 portion to the hunger of the privileged bird. As it 

 began to appear, however, either from the latter's 

 languidness, or by his moving a little away, that this 

 was becoming appeased, another — either rook or 

 crow — would, at first warily, and then more boldly, 

 fall to ; and thus, without, probably, any actual 

 idea of the thing, the working out of the situation 

 was, more or less, to take it in turns. At least it 

 was always the few that ate, and the many that 

 waited, and a general sense that this should and 

 must be so seemed to obtain. Always, at such 



