PERCHING BIRDS. 119 



that this person was strongly attached to all 

 animals whatever, and that he constantly 

 received a striking return of affection, even from 

 the least docile of them. 



A most extraordinary instance of personal at- 

 tachment in one of these birds is recorded by 

 Col. Maxwell in his " Wanderings in the High- 

 lands." He seems to have had much experience 

 of animal attachment, both in bird and beast, and, 

 when a boy, had a raven which followed him about 

 like a setter, was inconsolable when he went to 

 school, and overjoyed on his return. But he 

 declares that the most remarkable instance of 

 feathered love for man, which ever came under his 

 notice, was that of a common rook. 



In a little village near Berwick there was a 

 small public-house called 4 The Ship,' the land- 

 lady of which one day saw some boys in the 

 street torturing a poor rook, which they had tied 

 by the leg to a stick, and were about to stone to 

 death. She humanely interposed and saved the 

 bird from the hands of its persecutors. " Jim 

 Crow," for that was the name given him by his 

 new protectors, soon became very tame, attaching 

 himself in a most surpassing degree to the land- 

 lord. He watched for his master in the morning 

 and followed him through the day, was always 

 at his elbow when he dined, and made himself 



