230 NATURK STUDY. 



have a fresh lot near his hole ; then he would rake out the old bed 

 and make a new one. I fed him cabbage leaves, the tops of veget- 

 ables out of the garden, sugar, and, when I could get it, an apple 

 once in a while. Apples were what he wanted, but I could not 

 often get them, and they cost me five cents apiece when they could 

 be got, so he did not often get any. He would sit up on his hind 

 legs and take sugar out of my hand, but would never let me touch 

 him. 



It is generally thought that these dogs live without water ; it is 

 true that their towns are often found miles from any surface water ; 

 but I have always thought that one burrow at least in each town 

 was sunk far enough to reach the water. They certainly use it — 

 mine did. I kept a tin can sunk in the ground near his hole with 

 water in it ; he would drink the water, then sit at the can, dipping 

 his paws in it ; but I never saw him wash as some animals do. 



He was kept for eighteen months ; then we were ordered away, 

 and he was so tame now that if I left him behind he would be 

 killed sooner or later when I was not there to prevent it, so I got 

 him into a basket, then carried him back to the town I had taken 

 him out of, and turned him loose in it. — Forest and Stream. 



I have not learning enough to know whether in the earliest times 

 ravens were accounted "unlucky." If so, why were they chosen 

 from among all the birds of the air for the merciful errand of car- 

 rying bread to Elijah in the wilderness? Did they steal it? They 

 are given to theft ! 



Also, in the written word we are assured that " God heareth the 

 ravens when they cry out unto him." And nothing of this is said 

 of doves or of any other white or heavenly kind of bird. An ex- 

 planation is given in the Egyptian commentary on St. Luke in the 

 Coptic script by Epiphanius, A. D. 368-401. The passage is certain- 

 ly very curious, and I am permitted to transcribe it here : 



" Why, then, did the evangelist mention no name among the 

 birds except ravens only? Because the hen raven, having laid her 

 eggs and hatched her young, is wont to fly away and leave them on 

 account of the hue of their color, for when hatched they are red in 

 appearance. Then the Nourisher of all creation sends to them a 

 little swarm of insects, putting it by their nest, and thus the little 

 ravens are fed until the color of their body is, as it were, dyed and 

 becomes black. But after seven days the old ravens return, and, 

 seeing that the bodies of their young have become perfectly like 

 their own, henceforward they take to them and bring them food of 

 their own accord." 



It is for naturalists to ascertain whether or no this strange ac- 

 count of the young ravens holds good in our day. — Cornhill Maga- 

 zine. 



