A JACKDAWS' RAID.
Many people hold that the jackdaw is tha cleverest. of all
birds. They will find support for their belief in the following authentic instance from the experience of a retired naval officer. He has four white pigeons which (like the rest of his animal family) are exceedingly tame. They inhabit a cot of five compartments above the roof of the garage. Their nearest neighbours are a colony of jackdaws, which are apt to block the chimneys with their nests. Attempts at eviction have failed and they have become as tame as the pigeons, and much more polemical. About a fortnight ago, it was noticed each morning that the jackdaws were in possession of the pigeon cot. After breakfast, when servants and others began to move about the yard, the jackdaws evacuated the cot and the pigeons returned. Next morning they were driven away again to the top of the stables, and the jackdaws again in possession. One morning four or five jackdaws were seen going into the holes of the cot and strutting about the board that runs along the front, when a pigeon ventured to return and alighted on the board. A jackdaw quickly tackled him, seizing him by the breast feathers and, after several vigorous tugs, pulled out a bunch of feathers (the bunch looking about the size of a duck's egg), with which he flew off to the nearest chimney„ about twelve yardS away.
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