248 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



cliffs quite close to the town, and each of these 

 seemed to possess cries and habits pecuHar to 

 themselves. One old fellow always " clanked " 

 like a worn-out bell, another uttered an even 

 deeper note, and a third made a cry like a throaty 

 tenor whose voice had cracked. They were always 

 sitting or flying about the same group of rocks, 

 and never associated with the flocks. Twice I 

 saw forty ravens in one flock, and once Mr. Lodge 

 and I counted forty-seven. 



As an instance of those predatory instincts in 

 a bird not usually associated with such violent 

 characteristics, I may relate the following — 



One day in July Mr. Lodge, the artist, and I 

 were sitting on a rock above the lake. It was 

 sunny and warm, and we were idly resting and 

 listening to the calls of the various birds. In some 

 stunted willows some twenty yards behind us was 

 a family of Magpies, father, mother and five little 

 fellows just able to fly, all in a row. A bird flashed 

 by, and we saw it was a Redwing without a tail. 

 It was flying very quickly, but the movement, 

 though so rapid, did not escape the eye of one of 

 the parent Magpies. In an instant it saw that the 

 Redwing had no tail, and would therefore probably 

 be unable to steer, and so could possibly be caught. 

 I never saw a Magpie fly like that before, for it 

 dashed after the Redwing at full speed, quite as 

 fast as any raptorial, and rapidly overhauled it. 

 Coming to the lake-edge the unfortunate Redwing 

 darted this way and that, and would certainly 

 have been captured had not a watchful Raven 

 swooped down from the cliffs and claimed a share 

 in the chase. The new-comer first of all drove off 



