HUNTING AND FISHING OF ANIMALS 1573 



it means a serious battle. On the coast also the raven 

 seeks to obtain possession of the hermit-crab. This 

 crustacean dwells in the empty shells of gasteropods. 

 At the least alarm he retires within this shell and 

 becomes invisible, but the bird advances with so much 

 precaution that he is often able to seize the crab be- 

 fore he has time to hide himself. If the raven fails 

 he turns the shell over and over until the impatient 

 crustacean allows a claw to emerge; he is then seized 

 and immediately devoured. 



If there is a question of hunting larger game like a 

 hare, the raven prefers to take an ally. They start 

 him at his burrow and pursue him flying. In spite of 

 his proverbial rapidity the hare is scarcely able to 

 flee more than two hundred yards. He succumbs 

 beneath vigorous blows on his skull from the beaks 

 of his assailants. During winter, in the high regions 

 of the Alps, when the soil is covered with snow, this 

 chase is particularly fruitful for ravens. The story 

 is told of that unfortunate hare who had hollowed 

 out in the snow a burrow with two entrances. Two 

 of these birds having recognized his presence, one 

 entered one hole in order to dislodge the hare, the 

 other awaited him at the other opening to batter his 

 head with blows from his beak and kill him before 

 he had time to gain presence of mind. 



Rooks sometimes hunt in burrows by ingeniously 

 concerted operations. Mr. Bernard has described 

 the interesting way in which the rook hunts voles or 

 field-mice in Thuringia. His curiosity was excited 

 by the way in which numerous rooks stood about a 

 field cawing loudly. In a few days this was ex- 



