Ill 
tameness proved his ruin: some kindly person murdered him with 
a brickbat in my absence. In 1878 I knew of two nests, one of 
which was savagely destroyed by a keeper, who, unable to get at 
the nest, went up the opposite side of the gorge and bombarded it 
from a distance till he could no longer hear the cries of the young 
birds. The market value of the egg and young bird is too well 
known to the dalesman; but the early breeding season of the 
Raven stands him in good stead, as at that time the mountains are 
generally covered with snow and ice, which add immensely to the 
difficulty of climbing the rocky fastnesses of his home. They 
expel their young when able to fly, from the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the nest, and I fancy many of them wander down to the) 
Yorkshire moors, and there meet an untimely fate. The eggs are 
from four to seven in number. Locally they are often called 
Corbies. 
THE CaRRION CROW 
Is like a smaller edition of the Raven. These birds are exceed- 
ingly abundant here, in spite of the most untiring persecution. 
The Crow has all the cunning of its larger congener. The nesting 
habits, however, differ, for the Crow nests in trees in the valleys, 
avoiding the rocks, and, as a rule, the woods which grow higher 
up the fell sides. In Blengdale, in 1879, I found four nests within 
a distance of about five hundred yards. I do not think there were 
more than a dozen trees in the valley, some being very small, and 
two of the nests were in thorn bushes not more than eight feet 
from the ground. There were three more nests not far off The 
gamekeepers shoot many of the hen birds when sitting; but if 
once disturbed, the bird becomes exceedingly wary, leaving her 
nest on the first suspicion of danger. They are almost impossible 
to trap. Their note is a harsh “cargh,” much hoarser than the 
“caw” of the Rook, and yet differing widely from the croak of the 
Raven. The Crow is omnivorous, nothing comes amiss to him, 
but it is especially fond of eggs. I have known them visit a farm- 
yard regularly every morning. I remember four years ago finding 
