154 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



equalled only by the disappointment I had previ- 

 ously experienced after paying several fruitless 

 visits to their old quarters in the valley. With 

 what different feelings was their abdication re- 

 garded by the jackdaws as soon as "the great 

 fact " was satisfactorily ascertained ! Although 

 broken sticks in abundance lay around, with 

 ample means for constructing the shallow plat- 

 form on which they deposited their eggs in the 

 interior of the hollow trees, yet nothing would 

 suit them but the materials of the raven's nest, a 

 general attack upon which seemed to be the order 

 of the day. The work of spoliation had com- 

 menced before my arrival, and was completed 

 within a week. Loud and merry were the notes of 

 the noisy republicans as they demolished piece- 

 meal the stronghold of their tyrants, and even 

 seemed to vie with each other in their anxiety to 

 construct their own obscure tenements from its 

 ruins. It was like the attack of a mob on a royal 

 residence, and the erection of a village of cabins 

 from the debris of a palace. 



After rearing their young, the ravens and their 

 family generally disappear for a short time dur- 

 ing the summer. They then seek an open coun- 

 try without trees or human habitations, where, 

 comparatively secure from sudden surprise, they 



