OUR PETS. 149 



a supply of sticks to tie up plauts to, tbougli I did not 

 dare to meddle with it if tlie builder was present. When 

 the nest was finished and lined with hay, he used to fly to 

 it whenever any food was given to him, never eating it, as 

 at other times, — he had evidently some instinctive feeling 

 that there were young ones depending on him. He had a 

 very curious penchant for black cats : if a stray individual 

 of that colour made its appearance in the garden, the raven 

 used to follow it about, sit close to it if it lay under a 

 bush, perch as near as he could get when it was concealed 

 among the pea-sticks, and even allow it to come into his 

 cage, and, on more than one occasion, to sleep in his nest. 

 The cats, for he had more than one feline friend, were 

 attracted to his house, no doubt, by the supplies of provi- 

 sions he used to conceal there, as is the habit of this bird ; 

 but what his fancy for them was, we never understood, 

 unless misled by their colour, (his friends were invariably 

 black,) he had some idea they were four-footed ravens. Poor 

 bird, his fancy for black animals caused his death at last ; 

 for he could not be prevented from attempting a familiar 

 intimacy with a black English terrier. Once it seized him 

 and nearly worried him to death ; but, undeterred by this, 

 and by frequent attempts to chase him, he continued to 

 come close to the dog, fluttering his wings, and croaking in 

 a murmuring voice, until in a luckless hour, when the 

 family were from home, the dog seized him, and, ere he 

 could be rescued, gave him a death-gripe. 



Jackdaws brought up from the nest are among the most 

 amushig and attractive pets about a garden; they shew 



