170 Thk R.wrx 



from liis pouch, rearrange the feathers, and hop off with the air of having done 

 a very clever thing." 



As regards tlie possibility of this species breeding in confinement, I niaj' 

 quote the following note given to me bv Mr. J. E. llarting for my "Handbook 

 of British Oologj' " : — "In March, 1S64, a pair of tame Ravens which had the run 

 of a garden belonging to Mr. Winterbottom, of Cheltenham, built a nest in a 

 box in a shed about six feet from the ground. The nest was built of sticks, old 

 fern-leaves, and the stalks of dead wall-flowers, and was lined with dead leaves 

 and tufts of grass. On March 4th two eggs were found in tlie nest, and the 

 following day a third was laid ; l)ut the hen bird did not sit well, perhaps 

 because too much disturbed l)y visitors, and the eggs were not hatclied." 



Lord Lilford's last pair of Ravens, wliieli, liowever, had considerable liberty, 

 reared four young ones, all of which were living in 1894. In 1908 Mr. St. 

 Quintin's Ravens hatched out five strong young ones. 



Mr. J. H. Coniyus, of Lyveudeu, S. Devon, forwarded to me a full account of 

 a Raven and Buzzard taken by him in 1896 from nests in trees: — "The Raven 

 was perfectly, I may say aggressively, tame within a week, but the Buzzard 

 remained obdurate for full}' three times as long, his timidity and suspicion being 

 truly exasperating." "As soon as my bird was full-grown, I tried the 

 experiment of turning him in with 'Grip' the Raven (who is confined in a 

 disused stable on account of his depredations in the neighbours' gardens). As I 

 anticipated, ' Grip ' instantly dashed at the intruder with murderous intent, but 

 what followed was a surprise to me. The Buzzard, after flying two or three 

 times round the stable, hotly pursued b}' ' Grip,' suddenly alighted on the floor 

 and confronted him with every feather bristling. The valour of the sable bird of 

 Odin was evidently tempered with a wholesome caution ; he stopped too, with 

 ruffled head held low down and open beak, panting like a hound, whereupon the 

 Buzzard to his astonishment and consternation sprang at him. He instantly beat 

 a headlong retreat, and the victor, after pursuing him for a short time from 

 perch to perch, rested on liis laurels. For a fortnight after this, the Buzzard 

 was master of the situation, and the Raven got nothing in the shape of meat to 

 eat unless I was there to give it to him. The Buzzard would stoop at him and 

 snatch his food out of his very beak, as he unearthed it from his various hiding- 

 places. ' Grip ' now changed his tactics, and took to sneaking up behind and 

 furtively tweaking the Buzzard's wings or tail, and strange to say, a persistent 

 course of these harrassing attacks has now utterly destroyed the Buzzard's spirit, 

 evidently too superficial to stand at all a severe test, and reduced him from a 

 really noble-looking bird to a woe-begone wretch, denuded of both tail-feathers 



