204 CRAVENS. 



the other. .Ralph's friend, the dog, in course of time, 

 had the misfortune to break his leg, and during the long 

 period of his confinement, the Raven waited on him 

 constantly, carried him his provisions, and scarcely ever 

 left him alone. One night, by accident, the stable door 

 had been shut, and Ralph had been deprived of his 

 friend's company all night ; but the ostler found, in the 

 morning, the door so pecked away, that had it not been 

 opened, in another hour, Ralph would have made his 

 own entrance. The landlord not only confirmed the 

 ostler's account, but mentioned many other acts of kind- 

 ness, shown by this bird to all dogs in general, but more 

 particularly to maimed or wounded ones." 



But, however attentive they may be to dogs, as in 

 this case, or to men, as in the preceding one, the follow- 

 ing instance of shrewd cunning shows that they are 

 ready enough, when it suits their interest, to trick each 

 other. At the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park, 

 London, two Ravens were kept in one large cage or pen ; 

 a visitor passing by, threw them two pieces of bun, when 

 one of them immediately jumped from his perch, and 

 before his comrade could reach either of them, he had 

 both secure in his beak, and had regained his former 

 position on the perch, holding them until he saw his 

 comrade at the further end of the cage ; he then flew 

 down, buried one of the pieces, which he carefully covered 

 with gravel, and jumping back to his perch with the 

 other piece, devoured- it. He then hopped down for 

 the other piece, and regaining his perch a second time, 

 consumed that, much to the annoyance of his compa- 

 nion, whom he thus artfully and cleverly contrived to 

 outwit. 



No wonder that so knowing a bird, gifted, at the same 

 time, with a voice so deep and solemn, as to command 

 attention whenever it is heard, should, in all ages, have 

 impressed superstitious people with a notion that it had 

 something unearthly in its nature; and in heathen coun- 

 tries especially, should have been respected by the 



