of their meals, and the _Anomalocorax_, who have
come together from afar to await patiently this result, then throw
themselves on the quarry. (Jerdon.)

Tennent narrates a singular trick which was twice, to his knowledge,
played on a dog by two of these small glossy crows of Ceylon. The dog
was gnawing a bone and would not be disturbed from the pure delight of
sucking the marrow of which he was the legitimate proprietor. A crow
approached the scene of the feast, and conceived the design of taking
possession of it; he began by hopping around the dog, going and
coming, trying to attract the animal's attention and ready to profit
by the first distraction. His gambols remaining without result, he
understood that he would not succeed and he flew away; but it was only
to return accompanied by a friend possessing as little respect as
himself for the property of others. The associate perched on a branch
a few steps away, while the first crow renewed his attempts by flying
around the bone and the dog; but the latter remained impassive. Then
the second personage, whose part had hitherto been to remain
contemplative, flew off his branch, threw himself on the dog and gave
him a formidable blow on the spine. Seized with indignation, the dog
turned round to punish the author of this unjustifiable aggression;
but the bird was already far away, and in the meanwhile from the other
side the first _Anomalocorax_ seized the long-coveted bone and also
took flight. The feelings of the sheepish dog who saw both his
vengeance and his repast flying away in the air may be better imagined
than described.[22]

[22] Tennent, _Ceylon_, vol. i. p. 171.

All the birds, indeed, of this family know how to reach their ends. I
have already spoken of certain hunts of the Raven; it is even said
that in Iceland he knows when a ewe is going to give birth to young,
and awaits this moment with immense patience. As soon as the lamb
appears the Raven alights on him, digs out his eyes, and devours them.

The Quelelis or Guadaloupe Caracara (_Polyborus lutosus_), a
Californian bird of prey, is a cruel enemy to animals like the goat
when they are about to bring forth their young. No sooner is one kid
born, and while the mother is yet in labour with the second, than the
birds pounce upon it, and should the mother be able to interfere, she
is assaulted also. If there are a number of young kids together, the
birds unite their forces and with great noise and flap