Quoth the Raven, "I'll have one more."

THE HIGHLIGHT of our vacation to Arches National Park in Utah was an entertaining and smart raven.

It was feeding on bits of bread, picking each one up and flying off. We got into the act by leaving a soda cracker. The raven returned, picked up the cracker and flew off to its cache.

Then we left two more crackers, then three, then four--each time it returned, the raven stacked them and carried them away in its bill.

At five crackers, we thought the raven had met its challenge. The growing crowd watched the bird place them in a perfect stack of five. It tried to pick them up from several angles but couldn't get them all in its bill.

After a moment's hesitation, the raven ate one, picked up the remaining four and flew off! We all cheered.

-- by Martha Hill, La Grande, Oregon (in "Birds and Blooms" magazine)