THE RAVEN. 113 



feet, pecked a hole in the shell, and leisurely sucked 

 out the contents: no "transfixing" for "Grippa", she 

 knew a great deal better than to commit so foolish a 

 mistake. 



Another time I threw her an egg as she sat facing 

 me on her perch and she caught it deftly in her beak 

 without cracking the shell, when she proceeded to deal 

 with it exactly as she had done with the one she had 

 picked up off the floor of her den. 



When supplied with more food than she could dis- 

 pose of at one meal "Grippa" was in the habit of 

 covering over the remainder in reserve for another 

 occasion, and this led to my being witness of a rather 

 comical scene. There was a very big lean rat in the 

 garden (how he got there was a mystery) and he lived 

 under the Raven's house, in the floor of which he had 

 contrived to gnaw a hole through which he would pop 

 up and steal her leavings. 



I did not interfere with the rodent, for I thought 

 "Grippa" might, perhaps, catch him some day, but he 

 was far too quick and wary for her, or she was too 

 slow, I cannot say which. Once, however, I happened 

 to see her pack away a bone or a bit of meat in a 

 corner and cover it with a scrap of paper which she 

 patted down on and carefully tucked round her deposit, 

 then when she had hidden it, she remounted her perch, 

 and the rat, popping his head out of the hole, carried 

 off the morsel which the bird had hidden close to it. 



8 



