THE CLERK AND THE LAST RAVENS 259 



about the park and outside of it, but invariably came to 

 the house to be fed and to roost. 



As time went on it was observed that the old birds 

 became more and more jealous of their presence in 

 their territory and from day to day they persecuted 

 them with increasing fury. The young accustomed 

 to be fed at the house, refused to leave the place, as 

 the young reared annually in the nest are invariably 

 compelled to do ; and the result was that one by one 

 they were killed by their savage parents. My inform- 

 ant actually witnessed the killing of one of them : 

 the young bird tried to escape by flying to the house, 

 but was buffeted with such fury that in the end it was 

 borne down to the earth in the park and was then 

 quickly done to death by the savage blows of the two 

 powerful beaks. 



There are other birds just as intolerant of the 

 presence of their full-grown young as the raven. This 

 is the case with our robin redbreast, but in the case of 

 this species it is the cock bird only that fights and the 

 fight is thus a more equal one. The young bird some- 

 times conquers the old one. In the raven, the mother 

 bird hates her children as much as the father does, 

 and as they fight in company, playing into each other's 

 hands, and take their young one by one, they are 

 invariably the victors. 



