90 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



sea-cliffs of Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, as well 

 as in one or two inland districts there, and to the 

 extent of a pair or so in Somerset also, the bird 

 well holds its own. Wales can give a better 

 account still, from iron-bound coast and hills alike. 

 In fact, it is not far short of the mark to say that 

 the Raven is commoner in Cambria than anywhere 

 else in Britain, probably because it is least perse- 

 cuted there. Again, parts of Yorkshire, the 

 "Lakes," and one or two contiguous counties 

 still know the sepulchral croak of " the bird of 

 Odin": while, although in the highlands of 

 Scotland, and especially in the central highlands, 

 the Raven is decidedly rare at any rate, as a 

 nester such is far from being the case on the 

 western littoral with its groups of outlying islands, 

 and this, too, despite incessant harassing. In the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, also, the bird has a home. 

 In Ireland it is still found in suitable localities, but 

 it is nowhere common, and is, it is said, decreasing. 

 Elsewhere, excepting the Isle of Wight, where 

 one, and perhaps two, pairs try to breed yearly, 

 the Raven is of very rare occurrence, especially as 

 a nester. In Sussex we had an attempt at breeding 

 in 1911 the first since 1895 ; rumour speaks of 

 a few fairly recent cases in Essex ; while not 

 many years since a pair reared them a brood in 

 Warwickshire. Otherwise, the best that the other 

 midland, southern, and eastern counties of England, 

 the lowlands of Scotland, and the north generally, 



