212 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Hensman has informed me that a Raven in the 

 Northampton Museum was shot near Wellingborough 

 in 1868. Mr. G. M. Edmonds, writing in March 

 1876, says of this species : "Single bird twice only 

 seen flying over the Herne (near Perry Mill, below 

 Oundle) in thirty-six years." Our personal knowledge 

 of the Raven as a wild bird in the neighbourhood of 

 Lilford is confined to the fact that at least forty years 

 ago a pair of this species nested in a high elm tree 

 close to the village of Wigsthorpe, and that certainly 

 none have done so since that period. 1 have many 

 notices of the former abundance of this bird in various 

 parts of Northamptonshire, but, as in the case of our 

 Kites and Buzzards, the Raven has disappeared 

 before the advance of civilization and the increase of 

 the preservation of game, and is now to be met with 

 as a resident only in the wilder parts of our Islands. 

 We have had many opportunities of closely ob- 

 serving the habits of this eminently sagacious bird 

 in various parts of the world, and, in spite of his 

 tendencies to murder, assault, and robbery, we must 

 confess to a great liking for him. The Raven is in 

 this country a very early breeder, generally selecting 

 a secure ledge in a cliff, more rarely a tall tree, and 

 returning to the same locality for nesting year after 

 year. The young birds often leave the nest during 

 the first fortnight of March, sometimes before that 

 date. We have more than once heard of a full 

 complement of eggs early in February, and, on the 

 other hand, found unfledged young in more than 

 one Raven's nest as late as the middle of May. The 

 old birds are always wary, one always keeping a close 

 look-out whilst the other is on the nest, and im- 

 mediately uttering a warning note on the approach 



