320 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
instant his head was turned. Two well- authenticated instances 
of the recurrence of this device came within my knowledge at 
Colombo, and attest the sagacity and powers of communication 
and combination possessed by these astute and courageous 
birds. 
This account, which would be difficult of credence if 
narrated by a less competent author, is strikingly confirmed 
by an independent observation on the crows of Japan, 
which has recently been published by Miss Bird, in whose 
words I shall render it. She writes : — 
In the inn garden I saw a dog eating a piece of carrion in 
the presence of several of these covetous birds. They evidently 
said a great deal to each other on the subject, and now and then 
one or two of them tried to pull the meat away from him, 
which he resented. At last a big strong crow succeeded in 
tearing off a piece, with which he returned to the pine where 
the others were congregated, and after much earnest speech 
they all surrounded the dog, and the leading bird dexterously 
dropped the small piece of meat within reach of his mouth, 
when he immediately snapped at it, letting go the big piece 
unwisely for a second, on which two of the crows flew away 
with it to the pine, and with much fluttering and hilarity 
they all ate, or rather gorged it, the deceived dog looking vacant 
and bewildered for a moment, after which he sat under the tree 
and barked at them inanely. A gentleman told me that he 
saw a dog holding a piece of meat in like manner in the 
presence of three crows, which also vainly tried to tear it from 
him, and after a consultation they separated, two going as near 
as they dared to the meat, while the third gave the tail a 
bite sharp enough to make the dog turn round with a 
squeak, on which the other villains seized the meat, and the 
three fed triumphantly upon it on the top of a wall . 1 
These two independent statements by competent ob- 
servers of such similar exhibitions of intelligence by crows, 
justifies us in accepting the fact, remarkable though it be. 
\s further corroboration, however, I shall quote still 
another independent and closely similar observation, 
which I find in a letter to me from Sir J. Clarke Jervoise, 
who says, while writing of rooks which he has observed in 
England : — 
1 Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, vol. ii., pp. 149-60, 
