RAVENS IN SOMERSET 167 



Continuing my inquiries about the Somerset ravens, 

 I found a man who was anxious that they should be 

 spared. His real reason was that their eggs for him 

 were golden eggs, for he lived near the cliff, and had 

 an eye always on them, and had been successful for 

 many years in robbing their nest, until he had at 

 length come to look on these birds almost as his own 

 property. Being his he loved them, and was glad to 

 talk about them to me by the hour. Among other 

 things he related that the ravens had for very near 

 neighbours on the rocks a pair of peregrine falcons, 

 and for several years there had always been peace 

 between them. At length one winter afternoon he 

 heard loud, angry cries, and presently two birds ap- 

 peared above the cliff — a raven and a falcon — en- 

 gaged in desperate battle and mounting higher and 

 higher as they fought. The raven, he said, did not 

 croak, but constantly uttered his harsh, powerful, 

 barking cry, while the falcon emitted shrill, piercing 

 cries that must have been audible two miles away. 

 At intervals as they rose, wheeling round and round, 

 they struck at each other, and becoming locked to- 

 gether fell like one bird for a considerable distance; 

 then they would separate and mount again, shrieking 

 and barking. At length they rose to so great a 

 height that he feared to lose sight of them ; but the 



