Correspondence



75



mould it as one wished, but that theory, like a good many others, has

had to go to the wall. A great deal, I may say an enormous deal, can be

done in a young bird by persistent gentleness and patience, in fact

I believe that the whole temperament of a parrot depends entirely on

the treatment by its first owner. At the same time they have so much

individual character that one cannot make them all of one pattern.



CORRESPONDENCE '


THE COLOUR OF THE SCARLET IBIS IN CAPTIVITY

Sirs, —In the March number of the Avicultural Magazine Mr. Meade-

Waldo writes that the Scarlet Ibis “ loses its colour at once and

never recovers it, but remains a dull pink ”. This is true of the bird

in close confinement, but the colour is retained for years if the bird has

access to water (not necessarily rich in natural food) and an extensive

grass range. If the enclosure is well sheltered, and contains plenty of

thick evergreens, the Ibises can be wintered out of doors, anyhow in

the Midlands, and require no other artificial food than chopped raw

meat.


Tavistock.


RAVEN VERSUS RAT: ACTION DUE TO INSTINCT

Sirs, —In one of the recent numbers of The Field there was (so far

as I now remember) a reply to a correspondent about food of Ravens,

such as worms, beetles, snails, mice, field voles, moles, birds ; but no

mention of rats. As the Rev. Bancks, of this village, had told me a few

weeks before about a Raven he kept in past years (“ about 1902 ”),

I thought its actions towards a rat might be worth mentioning.


Having caught a large rat uninjured, a friend suggested putting it

into the Raven’s cage, and on this being done the bird at once attacked

it, and after putting a foot on it to hold it down, killed it with a single

peck in the body in stabbing fashion.


The scene clearly proved that Ravens will attack these rodents

when wild, and are therefore of some economic value.


In addition to the above, it may be of interest to say that the bird

was taken young from the nest, and therefore it is most unlikely it had

previously seen an older bird kill rats in this way. Therefore, the



