184 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



sleep for the night in a boat-house situated by one of 

 the hill lochs. A comfortable bed of bracken was at hand, 

 but though in every sense ready for sleep, it was rendered 

 impossible by the sepulchral croaking of what sounded 

 to me like thousands of ravens somewhere among the 

 stupendous heights above. Their cries, interspersed 

 occasionally by the savage roaring of a stag, caused one 

 furiously to realize why, in the bygone superstitious days 

 when the raven was far more plentiful than it is to-day, 

 it figured in the lay mind as the bird of Death. 



Next morning I mounted to the roosting place of the 

 colony, where the signs of their frequency on the shelves 

 indicated that great numbers of them had roosted there 

 for some time past. 



Mentioning this matter to the stalker, he informed me 

 that since his boyhood ravens have roosted in that 

 particular washout. Evidently the colony mounts its 

 pickets to watch over their slumbers, for though several 

 attempts had been made at night-time to surprise them, 

 the raven host invariably forsook their stronghold with 

 loud clamour of alarm ere the guns were near. 



A certain venerable authority on the wild fauna of 

 Scotland declares that the raven is as destructive as its 

 carrion and hooded relatives, and he would gladly see it 

 share the fate to which he so lightly recommends practically 

 every bird of prey we have, excepting the barn owl. 

 Unquestionably the raven does little to pay its way, and 

 it is to-day a great deal too plentiful on many of our moors, 

 and though it may be too rare for the bird lover in other 

 parts, which depend upon Scotland for their raven 

 population, yet my own experience is certainly that this 

 bird is nothing like so destructive as carrion and hooded 

 crows, and apparently a great many gamekeepers and 

 shooting tenants are of the same opinion, for in these 

 days the raven is sometimes preserved, while the other 

 two blacklegs are universally persecuted. 



