RAVENS. 



269 



aside, and thus given one of these expert thieves the opportunity for which it was waiting. A still 

 more amusing anecdote is told by Tennent of a Glossy Crow, who, having long attempted by every 

 conceivable device to divert the attention of a dog from a bone that it wished to secure, and its efforts 

 proving fruitless, retired in search of a friend, who at once perched upon a tree, and endeavoured to 

 attract the attention of the dog, but all in vain ; at length, rendered desperate by repeated failures, 

 the new comer darted down with great violence upon the owner of the coveted bone ; the dog, to 

 revenge itself, sprang upon the intruder, while the cunning instigator of the commotion crept quietly to 

 the spot, and secured the prize. 



THE NUTCRACKER. 

 The Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) belongs to a group of Ravens met with in most various 

 and distant parts of the globe, some of its members inhabiting the whole of the north of Europe and 



THE FLUTE BIRD (Gymnorhvia tibiccn). 



a large portion of Asia, while others are found both in America and on the Himalaya Mountains. 

 The body of this bird is slender, the neck long, the head large and flat, with a long, slender, and 

 rounded beak, the upper mandible being straight, or only very slightly curved. The wings are of 

 moderate size, blunt, and graduated, the fourth quill being longer than the rest ; the tail is short, and 

 rounded at its extremity ; the feet are strong, and furnished with powerful toes, armed with strong 

 hooked claws. The plumage is thick and soft ; its predominating colour is a dark brown, without 

 spots upon the top of the head and nape, although elsewhere each individual feather is tipped with an 

 oval mark of a pure white ; the wings and tail-feathers are of a brilliant black, the latter being tipped 

 with white at their extremities ; the under tail-covers are likewise white ; the legs are brown, and the 

 beak and feet black. It is from thirteen to fourteen inches long, and from twenty-two to twenty-three 

 and a half inches broad ; the tail measures about five inches. 



