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 flapping of wings succeed in separating the weakest and killing it.[23] [23] Bendire, _Life Histories of North American Birds_, 1892, p. 319. Dr. J. Lowe has recently called attention to a very curious method of attracting prey adopted by the Blackcap (_Sylvia atricapilla_) at Orotava, Teneriffe.[24] This bird has discovered that the juice exuded by certain flowers (_Hibiscus Rosa sinensis_ and _Abutilon frondosum_) is attractive to the insects upon which he preys; he therefore punctures the petals of these flowers in order to promote the exudation of this viscid secretion. [24] Linnaean Society, 1st June 1893.