260 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



rences are not surprising ; Crows, on the other 

 hand, both look and are intelligent, as every one 

 knows, and I had not been long in India before I 

 saw played a trick which was often repeated before 

 my eyes afterwards ; the House-Crows would settle 

 near a Kite which had alighted on a building with 

 a piece of food too heavy to devour on the wing, 

 one taking up a position in front and one behind 

 it, and the game was then for the Crow in front 

 to badger the Kite until a favourable opportunity 

 occurred for the confederate in the rear to jerk 

 its tail, when of course the booty was snatched by 

 the front bird as the infuriated Hawk turned round. 



As the Crows would pull a Kite's tail at any time 

 when the Kite was pre-occupied, as when drinking 

 or picking up a stick for its nest, it is easy to see 

 how the idea suggested itself, but the working out 

 of the plan showed intelligence, and the co-opera- 

 tion was explained by what I ultimately observed, 

 that the Crow which took the post of danger in 

 front allowed the other to take best part of the 

 spoil, thus showing that in all probability a pair 

 worked together, the easiest part of the plan, the 

 tail-pulling, being left to the share of the weaker 

 sex. I have heard and read of the same tactics 

 being used with dogs, but never saw this. 



With a young Kite in its first plumage I have 

 even seen a Crow dash in and boldly snatch the 

 food from it direct. Only on one occasion did I 

 see the wily Crows " bested " by a Kite. This 

 bird, no doubt taught by painful experience, had 



