AMERICAN RAVEN 203 



sedate and dignified ravens let themselves go and indulge in most inter- 

 esting and thrilling flight maneuvers and vocal performanc.es. Chasing 

 each other about in rapid flight, they dive, tumble, twist, turn somer- 

 saults, roll over sidewise, or mount high in the air and soar in great 

 circles on their broad, black wings. Their powers of flight shown in 

 these playful antics are no less surprising than the variety of their 

 melodious love notes, soft modulations of their well-known croaks, 

 varied with many clucking and gurgling sounds. Their exuberant spirits 

 seem to be overflowing at this season. 



Other forms of playful springtime antics are described by Dawson 

 (1923). One he called a "game of tag," in which several birds took 

 part, chasing each other about and playing with a "yellow something," 

 passing it from bill to c,laws, or from one bird to another. "After this 

 I witnessed an aerial minuet by two gifted performers, — a tumbling con- 

 test, wherein touching hands (wing-tips), with one bird upside down, 

 was varied with simultaneous somersaults and graceful upright, or 

 stalling, presentations." 



Nesting. — I have seen a few nests of the American raven in Arizona 

 and in California. At the northern end of the Huachuca Mountains, 

 Ariz., on April 14, 1922, we saw a pair of ravens building their nest 

 on a steep rocky declivity ; they were flying about, carrying nesting 

 material and croaking, but the nest was not finished. On April 20, 

 my companion, Frank Willard, climbed to an almost inaccessible nest 

 on a high perpendicular cjiflf in Apache Canyon in the Catalina Moun- 

 tains ; it was located on a ledge under an overhanging rock, but by the 

 skillful manipulation of a long rope he managed to reach the nest and 

 collect a set of five eggs. In a neighboring canyon, on the same day, 

 we found a big nest in a large cottonwood tree that a pair of ravens 

 were repairing; this was the only tree nest that we saw in Arizona. 

 We saw some other old ravens' nests on high, precipitous, rocky 

 eminences, some of which were occupied by western red-tailed hawks. 



In California, J, R. Pemberton gave me two very interesting days 

 with the ravens, March 19 and 20, 1929, in Kern County, driving for 

 many miles among the abandoned oil wells in the valley between the 

 Kettleman Hills and Wheeler Ridge. We collected five sets of eggs, 

 two of six, two of five, and one of four eggs. The ravens were nesting 

 in the abandoned oil derricks, usually near the tops, at heights ranging 

 from 58 to 104 feet above the ground. The nests were securely built 

 on the framework, either in a corner or against the ladder, which made 

 it a simple matter to climb to them. They were made mainly of the 

 stems and branches of sagebrush, mixed with other sticks and rubbish, 

 deeply hollowed and warmly lined with a profusion of wool of various 



