SPRING-TIME ON THE MOORS 39 



Mr J. G. Millais, in his Game-Birds and Shooting 

 Sketches. 



By mid-April the extreme virulence of their rivalries 

 is abating, and parties of blackcocks can feed amicably 

 together. On the 14th I noticed no less than twenty-one 

 thus assembled. No greyhens were present, yet several 

 of the biggest old cocks moved about (feeding) with their 

 widespreading tails erect and partially distended, as though 

 that fashion was chronic at the season. 



Meanwhile, or rather, long before this period, the 

 resident birds, that is, those hardy species that have 

 weathered out the winter on the fells, have already com- 

 menced to nest. First among these stand the raven 

 and the heron. As early as February, amidst snow-clad 

 hills, the raven prepares his nest, and often lays before 

 the end of that month. On March 8th there were five 

 eggs in one of the few eyries that yet survive. A fort- 

 night earlier, this nest had already been repaired and 

 completely renewed, but at that date was still empty. 

 We have seen occupied nests at five different spots ; but 

 they were not all used yearly, and some are now aban- 

 doned. Many former strongholds retain now nothing 

 but the tradition and the name, as Ravenscleugh, 

 Ravenscrag, etc. The raven is gone, and his place 

 occupied by a swarm of jackdaws, in the aggregate 

 more mischievous than he. 



April 5 (1890). — There were still eggs unhatched in 

 another nest — a very late date. The shepherd told me 

 the old ravens had been rather destructive at the lambing 

 time, killing several ewes ; such an act, however, if cor- 

 rectly stated, is quite exceptional, and its possibility is 

 doubtful, unless the sheep had previously been "cast," 

 and was thus unable to regain its feet, in which event a 



