164 THE RAVEN 



were not so good for the gull. In course of time 

 whether from indigestion or not, the gull fell ill 

 and the raven became more assiduous than ever 

 in her attentions, never leaving him, and plying 

 him with her most nauseous tit-bits. The gull 

 grew worse, as was, perhaps, natural under the 

 treatment, and less companionable ; and, one day, 

 when he positively refused to touch a more un- 

 savoury morsel than usual which the raven had 

 denied to herself, and, doubtless, thought to be a 

 panacea, the bird, in a fit of fury at the ingrati- 

 tude of her friend and patient, fell upon and 

 killed him, tore his body to pieces, and, burying 

 half of it for future consumption, devoured the rest ! 

 We know little enough of our own hearts, still 

 less of one another's ; but how infmitively less do 

 we know of the animals who are our most constant 

 companions, least of all, of our pet birds ! Such 

 intense affection, followed by such uncontrollable 

 rage at a fancied slight, one may have known in 

 man, but who would expect it in a raven? Was 

 it a reversion to type, to original savagery, just 

 as a Negro, apparently civilised and Christianised, 

 has been known, on returning to the Niger coast, 

 to go back, within a year, to his human sacrifices 

 and his cannibalism ; or as the Fuegians, described 



