THE RAVEN. 245 



1842, Mr. Hardy says that " a man named Bookless ventured 

 over the rocks near Petticowick to harry the Eaven's nest, 

 the rope being held by two other weavers, George Pae and 

 Eobert Craig — both, ' na great rugs.' Bookless was a kind of 

 ' Wandering Jew,' with no settlement in him, who would do 

 anything to win a penny-piece rather than weave. The 

 promised reward was five shillings from the farmer at North- 

 field, some of whose sheep the birds had destroyed by pecking 

 out their eyes when lying on their backs. The rope, being 

 old, broke on a sharp rock, and Bookless fell sheer down to 

 the sea-beach, and was killed." Writing in 1858, Mr. Hardy 

 mentions that " near the Eammel Cove there is a bald, steep 

 rock facing the east, crowned with long heather ; and there 

 the Eaven used to build, and likewise the Peregrine Palcon. 

 He also states that the former had its nest of old at the 

 Swallow Craig, on the coast near Oldcambus, and in the 

 rocks at Pairneyside, near Burnmouth. Mr. Wilson, late of 

 Edington Mains, has told me that, when he was a boy, a 

 pair of Eavens built their nest every year near the southern 

 extremity of that farm, at a place called the " Blue Braes," 

 on the banks of the Whitadder, a little distance above 

 Hutton Hall Mill. They continued to do so until 1825 or 

 1826, when, in consequence of the depredations committed 

 by the old birds amongst the young poultry, he assisted in 

 harrying the last nest, which was placed on a tall ash-tree 

 near a rock at the Braes. The young birds, which were 

 full fledged, could be seen sitting in the nest, and were 

 shot ; while the old ones hovered high in the air out of 

 reach. After this they never returned to build there. In 

 his notes on the " Birds of Lauderdale," Mr. Kelly mentions 

 that the Eaven used to nest at West Hope.^ 



Mr. Cowe, Oldcastles, tells me that, in his boyhood, 



1 Hist. Ber. A'at. Club, vol. vii. p. 301. 



