11 FEBRUARY 1905, Page 16

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR"]

SIR,—In 1894-95, at the Lal Bagh aviary, Bangalore, there was a winter or albino crow, separated only by stout bars from a sick vulture in the next compartment, and otherwise quite solitary. The native keeper informed us that this crow regularly fed the vulture with choice morsels from his own rations of offal ; and, although we did not actually witness this deed of altruism, we saw the crow standing as near the vulture as the bars permitted, with as good a " bedside manner" and air of attentive solicitude as could possibly be desired in doctor or nurse; the morsels lying untasted at the vulture's feet and within easy reach of the crow's beak, to the latter's evident concern. Later on this vulture died, and the keeper told us the crow had since taken to feeding its common black brethren through the exterior bars.—I am,