THE RAVEN 117 



ground to the sea. A small grassy platform was near the 

 nest, which was built under an overhanging ledge of rock, 

 quite invisible from above, and partly so from below. The 

 site commanded a good look-out ; and vainly the keeper tried 

 to shoot the birds. They were always too quick for him ; but 

 he took a mean advantage of them at last, and finally 

 succeeded in poisoning the pair. Singularly enough he 

 poisoned three Eavens at this nest, and the surviving bird 

 always found another mate directly, until one fatal morning 

 he found two sable victims on the beach below, and the spot 

 was deserted at last. This nest was a huge structure, made 

 of sticks of all lengths and thicknesses, branches of heather, 

 many of them bleached with age, and evidently the accumula- 

 tion of years. Masses of sheep's wool hung in festoons from 

 some of the larger sticks, and the lining was made of finer 

 twigs, roots, tufts of grass, and a little wool. The whole was 

 firmly and compactly put together, not in any way wedged 

 into the crevice of the rock, but built on the flat ledge which 

 was devoid of all herbage whatever. The ledge and the face 

 of the cliff all round the nest were white with the droppings 

 of the old birds. Another nest I visited with the aid of a 

 rope was built in a little cavity high up an inland precipice, 

 covered with ivy. It was made of similar materials, but was 

 not quite so bulky, and the lining contained more moss and 

 sheep's wool. When in a tree the nest resembles that of a 

 Eook or a Carrion Crow, but is of course much larger. The 

 eggs of the Raven are from four to six in number, and they 

 precisely resemble in their colour those of the Eook, being 

 bluish or brownish green, more or less thickly marked with 

 olive-brown and pale gray. A rare variety is reddish-white 

 in ground colour, spotted with reddish-brown and violet-gray. 

 Small eggs of the Eaven are often met with ; in fact, they are 

 very small in proportion to the bird and compared with eggs 

 of other species of the Crow tribe. 



