REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
65 
the crow was satisfied with this performance, he would come back and 
carefully pick out the most tempting bits and give them to his friend, 
between each gift holding as long an argument as a pawnbroker with 
a reluctant client. It seemed as if the crow were bargaining and the 
raven were arguing as to the value of the exchange, and at last the 
crow would give in after extracting a dozen promises that the raven 
never meant to keep. Nearly all the treasure would be given in bit 
by bit to the impatient raven, but the last two or three pieces were 
always reserved for his own use. They would be left spread before 
the eyes of the greedy raven until the crow had found a satisfactory 
spot for burying them, and then he would carry them off to make a 
plant for himself. He never seemed to remember where he had buried 
his share, and was never once seen to unearth any of it. The raven, 
on the contrary, never forgets his caches, and spends one-half the 
day hiding things, and the other half in finding them. Possibly the 
fact that he was free in a land that never failed to produce plenty made 
the crow careless of his hidden treasures, but nature proved too strong 
for him to give up the custom of providing for days of scarcity. This 
was the invariable routine for his morning’s visit; but at night, when 
provender was always more plentiful and he needed only to hop from 
cage to cage to get all he could possibly eat, he was far more liberal 
with his captive friend and would give up the spoil with less reluctance, 
though he never once gave it up without having his meed of fun in 
return. It did not matter how much or how little he brought, however, 
he had full knowledge of the exceptional value of the very last bits. They 
were always most coveted by the raven — and he never once was given 
them. The crow made it an invariable rule to bury those for himself. 
LIONS 
THE KING OF BEASTS. 
It is often asked why the lion, and not the tiger, has been given 
the title of “The King of Beasts.” It is really difficult to say which 
is the stronger of the two; but sportsmen state that when a lion and 
a tiger meet in a fight they are frequently both found dead afterwards. 
Such a battle royal must needs end in the death of one of the contestants, 
for it is inconceivable that either should ask for quarter. Some years 
D 
