4 THE NORTHERN RAVEN. 
extent, and dispute with the ubiquitous Indian dog the chance at decayed fish 
and offal. 
Altho by force of circumstances driven to accept shelter and nesting sites 
in the dense forests of the western Olympic slope, the Raven is a great lover 
of the sea-cliffs and of all wild scenery. Stormy days are his especial delight 
and he soars about in the teeth of the gale, exulting, like Lear, in the tumult: 
“Blow winds, and crack your cheeks!’ The sable bird is rather majestic on 
the wing, and he soars aloft at times with something of the motion and dignity 
of the Eagle. But the Corvine character is complex; and its gravest represen- 
tatives do some astonishingly boyish things. For instance, according to 
Nelson, they will take sea-urchins high in air and drop them on the cliffs, 
for no better reason, apparently, than to hear them smash. Or, again, they 
will catch the luckless urchins in mid-air with all the delight of school-boys 
at tom-ball. 
Nests are to be found midway of sea-cliffs in studiously inaccessible 
places, or else high in evergreen trees. Eggs, to the number of five or six, 
are deposited in April; and the young are fed upon the choicest which the 
(egg) market affords. We shall need to apologize occasionally for the short- 
comings of our favorites, and we confess at the outset to shameless incon- 
sistency; for even bird villains are dear to us, if they be not too bad, and 
especially if their badness be not directed against us. Who would wish to 
see this bold, black brigand, savage, cunning, and unscrupulous as he is, dis- 
appear entirely from our shores? He is the deep shadow of the world’s 
chiaroscuro; and what were white, pray. without black by which to meas- 
ure it? 
ier 
‘ - = : ses | 
Laken in Clallam County. Photo by the Author. 
POINT-OF-THE-ARCHES GROUP, A CHARACTERISTIC HAUN'T OF ‘THE RAVEN. 
