THE RAVEN 87 



and it is not above killing poultry and sucking eggs ; but 

 except along the western coast it is now so scarce that 

 the damage done by it can be merely infinitesimal. A 

 dead whale thrown upon the shore becomes the point of 

 attraction to all the Ravens for many miles round, and 

 they feed greedily on the carcase. Sometimes, when its 

 more tasty food fails it, the Raven is reduced to feeding 

 on grubs, insects, and worms, but considering that the 

 young are fed largely on carrion, those I have examined 

 have been in a singularly clean condition. 



When eating a dead sheep, perhaps with various 

 species of Sea Gulls sharing in the feast, the Raven 

 retires for a short distance on the arrival of an Eagle, 

 waiting till the King of Birds has eaten his fill before 

 venturing back. When the carcase is that of a larger 

 animal, the Corbies do not fly ofi although an Eagle, or 

 even a dog, should appear on the scene. A large herd 

 of grampuses having been driven ashore by the inhabit- 

 ants of Pabbay, in the Sound of Harris, an amazing 

 number of Ravens assembled from all quarters and con- 

 tinued for several weeks to subsist upon the carcases. When 

 this food supply was exhausted, the inliabitants of the 

 district became alarmed lest the birds should commence 

 to feed on their barley. Efforts to drive them away were 

 ineffectual, and matters had begun to look serious when a 

 villager thought of what was really a very ingenious scheme 

 for the removal of the unwelcome visitors. He succeeded 

 in catching some of the Ravens alive, plucked out all their 

 feathers with the exception of those of the wings and 

 tail, and liberated these fearsome-looking scarecrows 

 among their companions. The Ravens, terrified by their 

 mutilated brothers, took their departure in a body, nor 

 did they return again to the district. 



A Highlander once remarked to MacGillivray, that 

 famous naturalist of the early nineteenth century, " What 



