i86 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



heavens during fine bright days. All the corvidea family 

 are given to some extent to this habit, but in the case of 

 the ravens such manoeuvres seem to be part of the educa- 

 tion of the young. The old birds can be distinguished 

 by their anxious and encouraging manner, the young 

 flapping erratically in pursuit of them on rather uncertain 

 wings, while a loud conversation is kept up the whole of 

 the time. I have seen a raven, flying thus, come tumbling 

 earthwards in pursuit of one of its own flight feathers, 

 shed while manoeuvring, but as the young attain their 

 full mastery of the air, the habit is resorted to less and 

 less. Rooks, on the other hand, like gulls, rejoice in 

 these love flights at all seasons, and on bright frosty days 

 in midwinter the whole colony may be seen soaring and 

 wheeling at great altitudes. 



I have no doubt that, as regards young gamebirds, 

 ravens are every bit as destructive as crows, but the 

 amount of harm crows do in this way is small compared 

 with their destructiveness as Ggg thieves. Grouse can 

 fly very early in their existence, and the crow peril ceases 

 to exist for them immediately they can evade destruction 

 by flight. The newly-hatched chick may be swallowed 

 whole, but they immediately outgrow this stage, so that 

 only for a few days of their existence are the black-coated 

 scavengers a peril to be reckoned with. The harm that 

 crows and ravens do on the grouse moors at this season 

 is, moreover, very much reduced by reason of the fact 

 that an abundance of other foods come into season at 

 the same time. It is now lambing time, while eggs of 

 all kinds are abundant, with the result that crows and ravens 

 are to be seen frequenting the low-lying country to a 

 much greater extent than early in the grouse nesting 

 season. 



Of the three, the hooded crow is doubtless the most 

 destructive, the carrion crow runs him a very hot second, 



