Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 425 



long time kept in one cage a raven, a hooded crow, a jackdaw, a 

 magpie, and a jay, all of which lived on good terms with each other." 

 Mr. R. Ball communicates the following anecdote of this species :■ — 

 " When a boy at school, a tame raven was very attentive in watching 

 our cribs or bird-traps, and when a bird was taken, he endeavoured 

 to catch it by turning xi\) the crii), but in so doing the bird always 

 escaped, as the raven could not let go the crib in time to seize it. 

 After several vain attempts of this kind, the raven seeing another 

 bird caught, instead of going at once to the crib, went to another 

 tame raven, and induced it to accompany him, when the one lifted 

 up the crib, and the otlier bore the poor captive off in triumph." 

 It was a common practice in a spacious yard in Belfast, to lay trains 

 of corn for sparrows, and to shoot them from a window, which was 

 only so far open as to admit the barrel of the gun ; neither the 

 shooter, nor any but a part of the instrument of destruction, being 

 ever visible from the outside. A tame raven which was brought a 

 young bird from the nest to the yard in question, and probably had 

 never seen a shot fired, afforded evidence at the same time that it un- 

 derstood the whole affair. When any one appeared canying a gun 

 across the yard towards the house from which the sparrows were 

 fired at, the raven exhibited the utmost alarm, by hurrj'ing off with 

 all possible but most awkward speed to hide itself, loudly screaming 

 all the while. Alarmed though it was for its own safety, this bird 

 always concealed itself near to and within view of the field of action, 

 and the shot was hardly fired when it dashed out from its retreat, 

 and seizing one of the dead or wounded sparrows, hurried back to 

 its hiding-place. The whole scene I have repeatedly witnessed. 

 The raven's portion of the sparrows was as duly exacted as the tithe 

 of the quails killed during their migration at Capri are said to be by 

 the bishop of that island. 



Mr. R. Patterson in a note which he has contributed thus states — 

 " In Septemlier 1831, I travelled from Portarlington as far as New- 

 bridge barracks with a veiy intelligent man, the colonel of a Lancer 

 regiment stationed there. This gentleman mentioned, that when tra- 

 velling near Limerick on the preceding day, he from the coach-top saw 

 a raven alight among a flock of full-grown ducks in a field adjoining 

 the road, and after having given one of them a few blows, throw it 

 on its back, and begin to tear it up. All works on ornithology men- 

 tion that the raven destroys young ducks and chickens, but I did 

 not before know that it ever carried its audacity so far as to attack 

 a duck when full-grown, as in this instance*." The late Mr. T. F. 



* Mr. Waterton states that a tame raven kept at Walton Hall " took a 

 sudden dislike to an old duck, with which, till then, he had been on the best 

 of terms; and he killed her in an instant." 



A raven which lived in the yard attached to the chief inn at Antrim, for 

 about fifteen years, had occasional encounters with game-cocks brought 

 thither to engage it, and bets were pending on the issue. Tlie raven in every 

 instance proved the victor. It avoided the blows of the cock, and acted only 

 on the defensive, until it could manage to lay hold of the cock's head, which 

 as soon as done, was crushed in its powerful beak, and its antagonist fell 

 lifeless on the ground. 



