have been known also to attack people who have
ventured nearer their cygnets than they liked.

I remember a lady being attacked by a swan on the banks of a lake, in
the grounds of a relative of mine. She had to take to flight, and was
met running along the path crying for aid, with the swan, its wings
outstretched, in full chase after her.

THE RAVEN AND THE BIRD-TRAP.

Only lately, a person paddling in a canoe near Chelmsford approached a
nest of cygnets, when the parent swan swam out, and seizing the bow of
the canoe, nearly upset it. The paddler had to back out of the way,
with difficulty escaping the violent assaults of the enraged bird.

One morning, as a family of cygnets were assembled on the banks of one
of the islands in the Zoological Gardens of London, and the parent birds
were swimming about watching their little ones, a carrion-crow, thinking
that the old birds were too far off to interfere with him, pounced down
on one of the cygnets. The father swan, however, had his eye on the
marauder, and, darting forward, seized him with his bill. The crow in
vain struggled to get free. The swan, like the gander I before
mentioned, dragged the felon towards the lake, and plunging him under
water, held him there till his caws sounded no longer.

Be brave and bold in defence of the helpless, especially of those
committed to your charge.

THE RAVEN AND THE BIRD-TRAP.

Ravens are supposed to be the most cunning and sagacious of birds. They
are knowing fellows, at all events.

Some schoolboys in Ireland used frequently to set traps for catching
birds. A tame raven belonging to their family frequently watched the
proceedings of the young gentlemen, and it occurred to him that he had
as much right to the birds as they had. When, therefore, they were out
of the way, he would fly down to the trap and lift the lid; but as he
could not hold it up and seize his prey at the same time, the bird
invariably escaped.

Not far off lived another tame raven, with which he was on visiting
acquaintance. After having vainly attempted on frequent occasions to
get the birds out of the trap by himself, he one day observed another
poor bird caught. Instead, however, of running the risk of opening the
trap as before, he hastened off to his acquaintance. The two ravens
then came back to the trap, and while one lifted the lid, the other
seized the poor captive. They then divided their prize between them.

When you see rogu