Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/141

128. Its watchful cunning, sagacity, and thievishness are well known. It is remarkable that the individuals of the species which inhabit the wildest and most remote regions of North America, far



from the abodes of civilized man, should display the same propensity for stealing and carrying off pieces of metal and other shining bodies, totally useless to it,—as in Europe. Mr. Kendall, when crossing the elevated lands that divide the waters that fall into Hudson's Bay from those that empty themselves into the Polar Sea, observed a Raven flying with something in its claws, pursued by a number of clamorous companions. On firing, the bird dropped the contested treasure, which proved to be the lock of a chest.