and Ornithological Biography. . 141 



when the safety of their young or nest is at stake, courageous, driving away 

 hawks and eagles whenever they happen to come near, although in no case 

 do they venture to attack man. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get within 

 shot of an old Raven. 1 have more than once been only a few yards from 

 one while it was sitting on its eggs, having attained this proximity by creep- 

 ing cautiously to the ovei-hanging edge of a precipice ; but the moment the 

 bird perceived me, it would fly off apparently in much confusion. They are 

 so cunning and wary, that they can seldom be caught in a trap ; and they 

 will watch one intended for a fox, a wolf, or a bear, until one of these animals 

 comes up, and is taken, when they will go to it and eat the alluring bait. 



" While at Little Macatina Harbour, on the coast of Labrador, in July 

 1833, r saw a Raven's nest placed under the shelvings of the rugged and 

 fearful rocks that form one side of that singular place. The young were 

 nearly fledged, and now and then called loudly to their parents, as if to en- 

 quire why our vessel had come there. One of them, in attempting to fly 

 away, fell into the water. It was secured, when I trimmed one of its wings, 

 and turned it loose on the deck along with some other birds. The mother, 

 however, kept sailing high over the schooner, repeating some notes, which it 

 seems the young one understood, for it walked carefully to the end of the 

 bowsprit, opened its wings, and tried to fly, but being unable, fell into the 

 water and was drowned. In a few days the rest of the family left the place, 

 and we saw no more of them. Some of the sailors, who had come to the har- 

 bour eight years in succession, assured me that they had always observed the 

 Ravens breeding, there. My whole party found it impossible to shoot one of 

 the old ones, who went to the nest and left it with so much caution, that the 

 task of watching them became irksome. One afternoon I concealed myself 

 under a pile of detached rocks for more than two hours. The young fre- 

 quently croaked as I was waiting there, but no parent came ; so I left tHe 

 place, but the next moment the female was seen from the deck of the Ripley. 

 She alighted in the nest, fed her young, and was off again before I could 

 reach within shooting distance. It was at this place that I observed how 

 singularly well those birds could travel to and from their nest, at a time 

 when I could not, on account of the fog, see them on wing at a greater dis- 

 tance than twenty or thirty yards. On the 29th of the same month, young 

 Ravens were seen in flocks with their parents, but they were already very 

 shy. 



" I found a nest of this bird at a narrow part of the Lehigh in Pennsylva- 

 nia, in a deep fissure of theo'ocks, not more than twenty feet above the wa- 

 ter, the security afforded by which had probably been considered as equiva- 

 lent to that which might have been gained by a greater height of rock. The 

 nest, in fact, hung over the stream, so that it was imjiossible to reach it either 

 from above or from below. Many years ago, I saw another placed imme- 

 diately beneath the arch of the Rock Bridge in Virginia. It was situated on 

 a small projecting stone scarcely a foot square ; yet the Raven appeared quite 

 satisfied as to the security of her brood on that narrow bed. This extragr- 

 dinary production of nature is placed on the ascent of a hill, which appears to 



