THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 55 



there, carrying a fairly long branch for the repair of 

 its nest, not however holding it by the bill, but 

 carrying it in it.s feet, a curious departure from the 

 usual habits of the British Oorvidse. The Rev. 

 Prebendary Bassett writes that he sometimes sees a 

 Raven on Exraoor, and that it is reputed to have 

 once been a breeding species in the Dulverton 

 District, on our eastern border. Mr. Mitchell of 

 Tavistock writes, that the Raven " is often to be 

 seen flying over Dartmoor in pairs, and I have seen 

 them breeding on the cliffs of North and South 

 Devon. A j^air nest at Rhames Head, near 

 Plymouth, building in February or even earlier. 

 x\nother pair builds every year in Morwell Rocks, 

 inaccessible rocks on the Devon side of the Tamar, 

 about four miles from Tavistock. A pair breed in 

 an old, inaccessible lime quarry near Okehampton. 

 Three or four years ago, a pair built three separate 

 nests on Vixen Tor, Dartmoor, but did not lay in 

 either, being disturbed. A pair used to build in a 

 steep rock on the Tavy, about three miles from here. 

 1 looked into the nest one year and saw three young 

 ones. They do not breed there now, but the rock is 

 still called the "Raven's Rock," Ravens seem very 

 playful sometimes. 1 have often watched them circling 

 in pairs over Dartmoor toying with each other, and 

 giving vent to their hoarse croak." A few pairs of 

 Ravens may still be found breeding in the cliffs between 

 Sidmouth and Lyme Regis; Mr. Hine Haycock informs 

 me that a pair nest annually in the cliffs at Peak Hill. 



