RAVENS, CURLEWS, AND EIDER-DUCKS 137 



often it is done in silence, but sometimes, at each 

 roll over, the raven cries " pyar," a penetrating and 

 striking note. 



Sometimes these ravens would roll in this manner 

 whilst pursued by or skirmishing with a gull, and 

 once I saw one of them do so during a curious kind 

 of skirmish or frolic — it was hard to tell its exact 

 character — with a hooded crow. Whether the hooded 

 crow turned itself almost at the same time in a manner 

 somewhat or entirely similar, I am not quite sure, but 

 it struck me that it did do so. Of course, one may 

 very easily just miss seeing the action of a bird 

 clearly, especially if there are two or more together, 

 and it is then, often, very annoying to be left with no 

 more than an impression, which may or may not be 

 correct. It is more satisfactory, almost, to see nothing 

 than not to be sure, but both impression and doubt 

 should be stated, for both are facts, and should not 

 be suppressed. But on no other occasion have I 

 seen a hooded crow behave in this way, though I 

 have watched them often. Once, but only once, I 

 saw one indulging in an antic which was sufficiently 

 striking, but of quite a different character. This bird 

 would spring suddenly from the ground, mount up 

 almost perpendicularly to a moderate height, and 

 then descend again on the same spot or close to it, 

 making a sudden lurch and half tumble in alighting. 

 It did this some dozen times, but not always in so 

 marked a manner, for sometimes the mount or tower 

 was not straight up from this spring — as a mountain 

 sheer from the sea — but arose out of what seemed 

 an ordinary flight over the ground. As it descended 

 for the last time another crow flew up to and 



