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THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 177 



cage, imitated the call of the old finches, and carried 

 to one after another of the young birds a bill full of 

 his own food. But his manner was a little too brusque 

 to suit the old birds, and they flew away in terror from 

 the great gray stranger. Polly thus saw to his satisfac- 

 tion the little ones orphaned and left entirely to his pro- 

 tecting care. From that time he refused to return to 

 his cage, staying night and day with the foster children, 

 and feeding them carefully till they were grown up. 

 The little creatures would fly about and perch on his 

 head and neck, and Polly would move very carefully and 

 seriously with his burden." The naturalist Pietruvsky 

 had a pond raven that always insisted on having com- 

 pany after a magpie was once accidentally placed in his 

 cage. This companionship must have given him pleas- 

 ure, for the next winter he chased any of the birds that 

 came near when he was out of his cage. Tiring of the 

 sport, he would catch a magpie and hold it in his claws, 

 calling out until his attendant appeared, to put it in the 

 cage. If the man dared to free the bird, the raven 

 would keep on chasing magpies until he had his way; 

 that accomplished, he would go into the cage of his own 

 accord and there torment his beloved magpie, very 

 much as monkeys tease their pets." * 



Some birds that are reared with the first brood 

 assist their parents in bringing up the second. " A 

 family of swallows did this: Toussenel saw the first 

 brood when they had hardly outgrown the nest them- 

 selves, lend a helping hand in feeding their little broth- 

 ers and sisters." f 



Altum assures us that the second brood of canary 



* Buchner, Liebe und Liebesleben in der Thiefwelt, p. 259. 

 f Ibid., p. 124. 



