214 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



eggs he has a special liking ; fresh or putrid fish, or, 

 in fact, carrion of any sort, will always " fetch " him ; 

 and the smaller mammals and reptiles afford him 

 sport as well as victual. Besides the above dietary, 

 we find that in captivity our dark friends will eat 

 almost every description of insect, besides fruit and 

 vegetables of all sorts, raw or cooked. A Raven, 

 taken from a nest in Northern Spain in 1876, lived for 

 seventeen years in fine plumage and condition at Lil- 

 ford, and was, with the exception of the occasional 

 curtailment of some of his wing-feathers, allowed com- 

 plete liberty. His manners were a constant source of 

 amusement and interest to us and a wide circle of 

 acquaintance. Intense curiosity and a curious 

 mixture of boldness and extreme caution were the 

 leading features of the character of " Sankey " a 

 name which, judging from its frequent repetition 

 by the bird himself, he seemed to have accepted with 

 satisfaction. In company with another Eaven sent 

 to me from the south of Spain, Sankey spent his 

 summer days in roaming about the lawn in front 

 of the house, where he found voles, frogs, earth- 

 worms, grasshoppers, and other provend. He almost 

 always accompanied a friend or a stranger to a certain 

 point on the carriage-drive, which he seemed to 

 consider the limit of his jurisdiction. He would 

 take any opportunity that presented itself of testing 

 the consistency of the lower garments or shoe-leather 

 of an unwary male of our species ; but we seldom 

 heard of his attacking a woman. At any strange 

 dog, large or small, he " went in," and after bestowing 

 a hearty dig on his hinder parts, used to retire to 

 some coign of vantage and mock his foe, with an 

 often-repeated " bow-wow," uttered in a complacent 



