174 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



Avhicli, refusing to be brought home, he defended himself 

 behind a pump, until overpowered by numbers." 



And in the story itself, Dickens puts into the mouth 

 of crazy Barnaby words that well describe the character 

 which the Raven has got of being an uncanny bird who 

 thinks deeply and knows too much. 



" Call him down, Barnaby, my man ! " says the 

 landlord. 



" / make him come ? " answers Barnaby. " Him, who 

 never goes to sleep, or so much as winks ! — Why, any 

 time of night, you may see his eyes in my dark room, 

 shining like two sparks. And every night, and all night 

 too, he's broad-awake, talking to himself, thinking what 

 he shall do to-morrow, where he shall go, and what he 

 shall steal and hide and bury." 



A thief the Raven certainly is, especially where he is 

 tempted by the glittering or glistening of any article. 

 The Jackdaw of Rheims was not a greater culprit. The 

 last Raven that had its home in Hyde Park had such a 

 theft recorded against him. A lady, walking near the 

 Serpentine, dropped her bracelet. In a moment the 

 sharp-eyed Raven swooped down, and flew off with it. 

 Most likely, when one of the great elms falls or is felled, 

 that missing bracelet will come to light in a snug hollow 

 of the tree. 



Mr. Cornish tells how, one winter's morning at the 

 Zoo, he was amused to see the Ravens busily collecting 

 all the pieces of ice they could reach, and tucking them 

 into holes round the edges of their big cage. And one of 

 them, a cute fellow, thinking that his piece was likely to 

 be noticed, being rather large for the hole, pulled it out 

 again and smeared it over with dirt and grit before he 

 put it back. 



