BIRDS THAT KEEP ORDER 129 



be down on him, drive him off his victim, and 

 hunt him all over the aviary ; indeed, he was 

 so severe with this bird that in the end he 

 put an end to his iniquities by killing him 

 outright. 



It must not be thought that it is only tame 

 or captive birds which have these ideas about 

 keeping order and discipline among their 

 neighbours, for something of the sort may 

 often be seen among birds in their wild life. 

 I once saw our crows in Calcutta behave in 

 a way that certainly looked as though they 

 sympathised with a weak creature in trouble, 

 though in the ordinary way there is nothing a 

 crow likes better than to find anything weak 

 at his mercy, when he will very soon give it 

 trouble enough. 



I had taken a dabchick which I had bought 

 alive in the bazaar where all sorts of water- 

 fowl, caught in nets, are sold for food in 

 winter down to our pond in the museum 

 grounds, and thrown it up in the air, thinking 

 it would fly down to the water as a duck 

 would do. But such a sudden start did not 

 suit the poor little diver, and it fell fluttering 

 to the ground a yard or two from the bank. 



17 



