290 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



and affectionate parents, unremitting in the 

 laborious work of finding plenty of food for their 

 broods. Most of them are daring in their defence, 

 and will fearlessly encounter the risk of death in 

 order to save them from attack, the eagle, strange 

 to say, being a decided exception. But take the 

 case of the raven. The young ones are still quite 

 callow, and follow their parents in the search for 

 food. They are able to find for themselves, but 

 are not above flapping their wings petted-ways 

 and begging when the old birds discover some- 

 thing good. But one fine morning, while the 

 youngsters are still in the mood to be led and 

 catered for, old -man raven looks upon them with 

 a cold and strangely altered eye. They annoy 

 him, though yesterday they were the joy of his 

 heart. The mood swiftly strengthens into aver- 

 sion, and he attacks them with a fury which fills 

 them with surprise and pain. He drives them and 

 buffets them right out of his territory. They 

 return, sure that it was all a hideous mistake, 

 only to get buffeted again. And very soon they 

 accept the situation, and they and their parents 

 are strangers ever after. 



With the smaller birds the driving -out instinct 

 is less markedly displayed, but it is there all the 

 same. Very early after the fledging of the brood, 

 the blackbirds and thrushes dissolve the family 

 partnership more completely even than the eagles 

 and ravens, which maintain the marriage-tie. The 

 blackbird very calmly looks his wife in the face 

 and says, " I don't know you," and proceeds to 

 live strictly for himself alone. Should any of 



