NORTHERN RAVEN 195 



Crows often mob ravens, as they do owls or hawks, but seldom 

 seriously attack one. Dr. Dickey (MS.) writes: *'Two ravens emerged 

 from a gigantic cliff. All at once a turkey buzzard flew down near the 

 cliff and acted as if it were searching for something. One raven pursued 

 this buzzard and actually struck it; the raven continued to pursue the 

 slow-moving buzzard until four crows drew near. The crows harassed 

 the raven, but it was too nimble on the wing to be actually hit by them. 

 The raven would move speedily to the right or left every time the crows 

 struck. Then the mate of the first raven appeared from trees, and two 

 of them were attacked by the four crows. The buzzard in the meantime 

 joined the throng; all the birds ended up in an apparent playful manner 

 on the wing near the crags; they continued, while I watched, to make 

 dives and sallies at one another." 



He tells, also, of a "vicious combat" that took place between a red- 

 tailed hawk and a raven. "The raven, ired as it was about its molested 

 nest, whipped and drove off the predator." 



Rev. J. J. Murray writes to me: "1 have reported in The Auk, on 

 the word of a very trustworthy mountaineer, the amazing habit in the 

 raven of worrying the turkey vulture until the vulture disgorges the 

 food and then eating the vulture's vomit. I have commonly seen crows 

 chase ravens, but have only once noted the reverse." 



Ravens sometimes display decidedl}' playful tendencies (some of 

 which are mentioned under the American raven), aerial acrobatic feats, 

 and spectacular dives. Theed Pearse tells me that he has seen similar 

 behavior. One bird was seen carrying a fir cone in its beak. The tail 

 Douglas firs "seemed alive Vvith ravens," and it v/as interesting to see 

 them picking the cones ; "the bird would fly up to the branch and hang 

 onto the cone with its beak, with the wings partially extended, and get 

 the cone off by tugging at it. There was one particular branch that 

 seemed to attract them, at the top of a tall ragged tree open at the top. 

 Birds would come to this same branch and clip off a small twig with 

 the beak, sometimes holding it in the beak for a minute or so, even 

 flying away with it, but usually the twig would be dropped when de- 

 tached." He saw another playing in the air with what looked like a 

 piece of dried skin, dropping it and catching it in its claws. 



Dr. Nelson (1887) says: "They have a common habit of rising high 

 overhead with a sea-urchin (Echinus) in their beaks, and after reaching 

 an elevation of several liundred feet of allov/ing the shell-fish to fall. As 

 a consequence, it is common to find the shells of these radiates scattered 

 all over the hill-sides in the vicinity of the sea ; apparently the ravens do 

 not do this with the intention of gaining readier access to the contents 

 of the shell, and I do not recall a single instance where a raven followed 



