Northern Observations of Inland Birds 183 



which made a very handsome contrast with the glossy 

 black of their flight feathers and upper and lower 

 extremities. I thought them almost as handsome as oyster 

 catchers, which are surely the most strikingly attired of 

 our lochside birds, while their antics of courtship — far 

 from being ungainly and grotesque, like those of the 

 rook — added a good deal to the general attractiveness of 

 the picture. 



Some years ago I was living in a part of the Pennines 

 in which, that season, hooded crows were comparatively 

 rare, and it therefore gave me much surprise when on 

 returning from the moor one evening I found a large 

 colony of them preparing to roost in a sheltered and 

 hidden away little valley in the heart of the hills. There 

 must have been close upon a hundred hoodies in the 

 small cluster of trees, and subsequently I learnt that it 

 was customary for the hooded crow population of the 

 country-side to foregather at this place as darkness fell. 



At the time it occurred to me as very curious that these 

 birds, solitary at all other times, should band thus at 

 night time — indicating as it did that each one of them 

 belonged to a clan, in just the same way as do rooks, 

 but some years later I discovered that ravens resort to 

 the same practice. 



Immediately the young ravens are awing, the whole 

 family, led and guided by the parent birds, hunt together 

 till into the next winter. Thus a small flock of ravens may 

 be seen, representing a family, but it is seldom that two 

 families unite unless drawn together by some common 

 attraction. Therefore in my early days I regarded the 

 raven as not truly sociable in disposition. 



In September, 1920, I was deer stalking in the Perth- 

 shire Highlands when very heavy rains caused the flooding 

 of several burns I should have to cross on the way home, 

 and since it turned out a fine, mild evening I decided to 



