MENTAL POWERS OF ANIMALS. 371 



eggs and young as they possibly can every year. When these 

 marauding excursions take place, two monkeys invariably take 

 the field, and while one keeps the crows employed, the other 

 slips off to the nest and quietly drops the contents on the 

 ground. 



In the case of the ordinary House- sparrow (Passer domesticus) 

 I have frequently noticed that, not content with installing him- 

 self in a particular neighbourhood, and bringing up innumerable 

 families in quick succession, he forthwith proceeds to install 

 others of his fraternity in the same place, and when once esta- 

 blished, they jointly set to work and systematically drive away 

 all the other small birds from the vicinity. "Live and let live" 

 is a maxim quite foreign to the sparrow's constitution, as every 

 oologist knows. I have notes of several cases which have come 

 under observation of sparrows — not singly, but invariably in 

 numbers — having systematically bullied and driven away small 

 birds which intended nesting in the compound. A few years 

 ago a pair of Crested Black Tits {Lophophanes melanolophus) 

 decided to set up their home in one of the numerous crevices of 

 an old outhouse attached to my bungalow. I had never eeen a 

 nest of this species before, and was, therefore, very interested 

 in their proceedings. The spot chosen was in a very convenient 

 situation for making observations, and for several days I spent 

 a large portion of my time in watching the progress of the 

 building operations. Some House-sparrows were also nesting 

 close by, and complete harmony seemingly prevailed among all 

 tenants. The tits' nest was nearing completion, when suddenly 

 the sparrows began to show signs of prying into their neigh- 

 bours' affairs, and would make several attempts to peep into 

 the nest. The peaceful tits seemed disposed to ignore these 

 intrusions, but the inquisitive attitude of their neighbours soon 

 developed into a more aggressive one. From peeps it came to 

 blows, and as soon as an unfortunate tit showed itself on the 

 scene, it was immediately chased away. After making several 

 attempts to regain the position, they eventually deserted the 

 nest, and shortly afterwards I saw a pair of sparrows installed 

 in peaceful possession ! Superfluous to add that they had forth- 

 with to pay the extreme penalty of the law. 



Take again the case of the common Red-headed Tits {sEgi- 



