RAVENS. 187 



tion in Ravens, is given in the weekly periodical, the 

 Saturday Magazine, which, from its application to the 

 subject before us, we here repeat. It occurred many years 

 ago, at the Ked Lion Inn, Hungerford. A gentleman who 

 lodged there, thus tells the story : " Coming into the inn- 

 yard," says he, " my chaise ran over and braised the leg of 

 a favourite Newfoundland dog, and while we were examining 

 the injury, Ralph, the Raven, looked on also, and was 

 evidently making his remarks on what was doing ; for the 

 minute my dog was tied up under the manger with my horse, 

 Ralph not only visited him, but brought him bones, and 

 attended him with particular marks of kindness. I observed 

 it to the ostler, who told me that the bird had been brought 

 up with a dog, and that the affection between them was 

 mutual, and all the neighbourhood had been witnesses of the 

 many acts of kindness performed by the one to the other. 

 Ralph's friend, the dog, in course of time, had the misfortune 

 to break his leg, and during the long period of his confine- 

 ment, the Raven waited on him constantly, carried him his 

 provisions, and scarcely ever left him alone. One night, by 

 accident, the atable-door had been shut, and Ralph had been 

 deprived of his friend's company all night ; but the ostler 

 found, in the morning, the door so pecked away, that had it 

 not been opened, in another hour Ralph would have made his 

 own entrance. The landlord not only confirmed the ostler's 

 account, but mentioned many other acts of kindness, shown 

 by this bird to all dogs in general, but more particularly to 

 maimed or wounded ones." 



But, however attentive they may be to dogs, as in this 

 case, or to men, as in the preceding one, the following in- 

 stance of shrewd cunning shows that they are ready enough, 

 when it suits their interest, to trick each other. At the 

 Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park, London, two 

 Ravens were kept in one large cage or pen ; a visitor passing 

 by, threw them two pieces of bun, when one of them imme- 

 diately jumped from his perch, and before his comrade could 

 reach either of them, he had both secure in his beak, and had 

 regained his former position on the perch, holding them until 



