THE RAVEN AND THE DOG. 357 



We knew a similar instance of a strong attachment formed 

 between a Raven and a large otter-dog. The Raven had 

 been taken when young, and reared in a stable-yard, where 

 the dog was kept chained up. A friendship soon commenced, 

 which, increasing from little to more, in time ripened into a 

 most extraordinary degree of intimacy. At first, the bird 

 was satisfied with hopping about in the vicinity of the kennel, 

 and occasionally pecking a hasty morsel from the dog's 

 feeding-pan, when the latter had finished his meal ; finding, 

 however, no interruption on the part of his friend, the Raven 

 soon became a constant attendant at meal times, and taking 

 up his position on the edge of the dish, acted the part of a 

 regular guest, and partaker of the dog's dinner, which con- 

 sisted usually of meal and milk, with occasional scraps of 

 offal meat, a piece of which the bird would often snatch up, 

 almost from the very mouth of the dog, and hasten beyond the 

 reach of his chain, as if to tantalize his four-footed friend, 

 and then hopping towards him, would play about and hang it 

 close to his nose, and then as speedily, at the moment the dog 

 was preparing to snap it up, would dart off beyond the reach 

 of the chain. At other times he would hide the piece of 

 meat under a stone, and then coming back, with a cunning 

 look, would perch upon the dog's head. It was observed, 

 however, that he always ended his pranks, by either sharing, 

 or giving up the whole piece to his friend, the dog. 



The intimacy continued for a length of time, and ter- 

 minated only with the death of the poor Raven, who was killed 

 by a boy throwing a stone at it ; for which he was very 

 properly dismissed from the service of his master. The 

 author would here suggest the propriety of parents and 

 teachers losing no opportunity of instilling into the minds of 

 children a feeling of kindness and benevolence to the brute 

 creation. He has again and again witnessed with pain the 

 utter absence of these feelings in children, whose daily lessons 

 at school from the Bible ought to have been attended with 

 different effects, one instance amongst the thousands that 

 might be adduced, of the facility with which religious truths 

 can be taught by a routine and common-place process, and by 



