THE RAVEN'S ALTRUISM.
In North Devon, in perhaps the most original and fascinating ,
homestead it has ever been my lot to enter, a- tame raven is evincing an altruism that it would be difficult to parallel. The bird is in captivity near the house. In a grove across a narrow valley the wild ravens build every year ; and this year have adopted the habit of visiting the neighbourhood of the aviary. Shrewd observers have kept a watch, and they believe (though without dogmatism) that the caged bird deliberately feeds the wild ones by scratching and poking his surplus food into places where the wild birds can- reach it through the wire netting. It is beyond question that the pair frequently visit the aviary and the trees near it ; and I see no reason 'why the -captive bird should not,have dis-
covered that food is a lure and have used it, if not for altruism, to attract a friend and companion: It would, after all, be a very small extension of such maternal and paternal feeding habits, as are witnessed in any domestic poultry yard ; and ravens are much cleverer than hens. Their tribe evinces the highest intellect within the kingdom of birds.
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