170



Nutcracker versus Chough.



laid with the others, again covered them up and came back to me

for another. Immediately the Nutcracker, who had been watching

his opportunity, hurried along to the Chough’s hidden treasure and

dug it up again, captured another grape and came back and hid it

with the first theft.


The Chough began to notice something amiss by this time,

and the fifth and sixth grapes he hid in different places and covered

them up with some leaves which were lying under the bush. He

then unearthed the first lot of grapes, minus two which the Nut¬

cracker had appropriated, and hid them in fresh places. He came

back to me and finding that I was not going to give him any more,

went back to the bush, carefully looked around and walked into the

sleeping-place at the back. The Nutcracker watched him out of the

back of his head apparently, and as soon as the Chough was out of

sight ran up to the bush and commenced digging it up all round.

The Chough came out again and the Nutcracker ceased his nefarious

task and deliberately turned his back on the Chough, and one could

see as plainly as possible that he was trying his utmost to annoy

the Chough without being detected. The Chough then came back

to the first patch of ground and turned it all over to see if he had

overlooked any grapes, or to find out where the missing ones had

gone to. Meanwhile the Nutcracker had found one of the hidden

grapes and took it a couple of feet away, dug a hole and covered it

with five or six leaves which had fallen from the bush. The two

birds never attempted to disagree, and in fact held no converse, as it

were, with one another at all. The Nutcracker assuming a non-

chalent air the whole time, succeeded admirably in nonplussing the

poor harrassed, but persevering, Chough.


At this moment the keeper arrived to put them to bed, thus

closing this decidedly amusing and certainly instructive incident.

It showed perseverance on one side, and perhaps the mischievious

qualities on the other side.



