1 92 1.] Birds of Alderney. 419 



the number of birds noticed by him in this short period is 

 remarkable, even allowing for the fact that the autumn 

 migration was in full swing ; but a week is far too short a 

 period on which to form conclusions, and the habit of many 

 species, as noted above, of passing across the Race from the 

 French coast to the island and vice versa at will, appears to 

 have led him into some wrong assumptions wath regard 

 to the relative abundance of different species. 



Corvus corax. The Raven. 



The bird is a resid(>nt, and a pair may usually be met with 

 along the shore or cliffs, attention being probably first 

 attracted to them by their well-known harsh cry. 



At least one pair breed here, and in February 1911 I 

 visited a nest which contained six eggs. It was a pleasure 

 to find that the same nest was still being occupied in 1920. 

 The bird also breeds in Guernsey where, in 1909, I visited 

 a nest. It contained five nearly fledged young ones, and I 

 was induced to take one as a pet. It was an interesting and 

 amusing bird, and no trouble so long as it had sufficient food ; 

 but eventually its appetite grew to such an extent and it 

 did so much damage in the garden, by biting off' the young 

 shoots and buds, that I gave it to the Brighton Zoological 

 Gardens, where, however, it did not live long. 



Mr. Cecil Smith, writing in 1879, was of opinion that the 

 bird did not breed on any of the islands. He says : "The 

 Raven can now only be looked upon as an occasional straggler. 

 I do not think it breeds at present in any of the islands, as I 

 have not seen it anywhere about in the breeding season since 

 1866, when I saw a pair near the cliffs on the south end of the 

 island (Guernsey) in June ; but as the Raven is a very early 

 breeder, these may only have been wanderers." Mr. Eagle 

 C'larke saw three Ravens in Sark on tli(^ 29th of September, 

 1898, which he concluded, and no doubt rightly, were 

 residents. It would therefore appear that the Raven is not 

 only holding its own, but actually increasing in numbers, at 

 any rate locally. 



