AN IDLE AFTERNOON 223 



And while one flock of ravens were playing 

 " it " in this brilliant fashion, another and larger 

 flock were sailing in mazy circles after the man- 

 ner of sea-gulls; a fascinating spectacle, to be 

 witnessed here every afternoon by any who will 

 be at the trouble to look up. More than once I 

 have watched hundreds of the birds thus engaged, 

 not all at the same elevation, be it understood, 

 but circle above circle a kind of Jacob's ladder 

 till the top ones were almost at heaven's gate. 

 It is a good time to be out on the desert when the 

 ravens are going to roost. And what with their 

 soarings and tumblings, I have begun to think 

 that perhaps the big hawk was not such an ab- 

 solute fool, after all, to decline an aerial combat. 

 The white-necked raven may be only a little larger 

 kind of crow, but he is a wonder on the wing. 



but halfway over ; that is to say, they lay on their backs for 

 an instant, and then, as by the recoil of a spring, recovered 

 themselves. How they acquired the trick, and for what pur- 

 pose they practice it, are questions beyond my answering. 

 Since my return home, indeed, I have discovered that Gilbert 

 White, who noted so many things, noted this same habit on 

 the part of the European raven. According to him, the birds 

 "lose the centre of gravity " while "scratching themselves 

 with one foot." How he knows this he does not inform us, and 

 I must confess myself unconvinced. 



