Thh Raven 169 



mucli, at times almost approaching black. Seebohm speaks of a variety of rare 

 occurrence which is " reddish-white in ground-colour, spotted with rich reddish- 

 brown and splashed with violet-grej^" Of the examples represented on our plate 

 figs. 229, 231, and 232 are from Mr. A. B. Farn's collection; fig. 230 is one of 

 a series of eggs collected some years since and given to me by my friend Dr. 

 Vincent Blachford, who took them at Charlton All Saints, near Salisbury. 



The commonest note of the Raven has been variously described as cnick, 

 01/ck, or pntck, pruck ; to me it sounds like ivliurk, ivliiirk ; its note of rage has 

 been described as "a menacing bark" and "an angry hoarse growl." 



The food consists of grain, berries, fruit, insects, worms, moUusca, reptiles, 

 batrachiaus, eggs, young poultry and game, sickly lambs, rats, moles, and carrion 

 of all kinds. 



Mr. E. C. Phillips in a paper on the Birds of Breconshire ("Zoologist," 1882, 

 pp. 45-46) says : — " This bird lives to a great age. When a boy, in Wiltshire, I 

 used to pay a visit — generall}' on a Sunda_v — to some friends that lived in a 

 manor house where there was a tame Raven, he was then about twenty years 

 old, and full of all sorts of mischief and iniquity, but being a great favourite 

 and a good talker he had pretty much his own way. I remember him well, for 

 on one occasion he took a small slice out of mj- leg, iit ??ws fuif, and retired to 

 the top of the spout to digest it, amidst my yells and the threats of the whole 

 party. Happening to be near the place twenty-five years afterwards, I ventured 

 to ask for my old friend, and to my surprise out he came with the same side- 

 long hop, the same malicious twinkle in his e3'e, and looking more sleek and 

 diabolical than ever. I only heard of his death last autumn. He took a similar 

 liberty with a large dog that he did with my leg, and got a nip in return that 

 killed him. He must have been fifty years old when he died, and was one of 

 the finest birds I have ever seen." 



Lord Lilford's account of his Ravens is very entertaining, especially that of 

 his bird Sankey : — " He would take any opportunity that presented itself of 

 testing the consistency of the lower garments or shoe-leather of an unwary male 

 of our species ; but we seldom heard of his attacking a woman. At any strange 

 dog, large or small, he ' went in,' and after bestowing a hearty dig on his 

 hinder parts, used to retire to some coign of vantage and mock his foe, with an 

 often-repeated ' bow-wow,' uttered in a complacent and sympathetic tone, which 

 must have been peculiarly aggravating to the injured one." 



" Any superfluous food was generally hidden away for future consumption, 

 and the hiding-places often quaintly chosen ; e.g. we once saw the Raven care- 

 fully part the long feathers on the back of one of our Emus, insert a small fish 



Vol. II. X2 



