THE CROW. 5 



of the Museum, soaking twigs in water, for what 

 reason I cannot divine, unless he thought they would 

 thereby become softer and stay in position, which 

 he was not at all successful in getting them to do. 

 The Crow evidently knows that water has a softening 

 effect, for I have seen a bird come down to a tank 

 with a piece of bread in his bill, put it into the water 

 to soak, while he had a drink and then fly off with it. 

 I have seen jackdaws also in the London Zoo do a 

 similar thing. It is indeed curious to speculate on 

 the extent of the Crow's intelligence. Sometimes 

 when flying, you will see him transfer something 

 from his bill to his feet, and carry it thus a little way, 

 as if he were trying to learn the kite's trick of using 

 his feet for transport. Yet he never seems to learn 

 to pick things ofi water with his feet, though picking 

 objects up from that element at all is evidently an 

 acquired trick with him. I notice our Crows about 

 the Museum are very poor hands at picking things 

 off the tank, while the Hooghly Crows were quite 

 handy at water work. Similarly, the Grand Hotel 

 Crows are very good at catching flying, no doubt 

 owing to constant feeding by residents there. The 

 Crow's intelligence is of course kept up to a high 

 level by the constant elimination of the young fools 

 by death or capture ; the old bird knows well the 

 difference between a stick or umbrella and a gun. 



