RAVEN. 67 



trees, as they are called, exist in many different places ; 

 and these birds not only live to a great age, but are con- 

 sidered to pair for life. It has been observed that if any 

 accident happens to either of the birds, the survivor quickly 

 obtains another mate ; and should both birds be killed, the 

 same locality, from some unknown cause of attraction, is 

 almost certain to be occupied by another pair. 



The nest is generally placed in the fork of a branch, and 

 is formed on the outside of sticks, with a lining of wool 

 and hair ; the eggs are four or five in number, two inches 

 in length by one inch four lines in breadth, of a pale green 

 ground colour, spotted and speckled with darker greenish 

 brown. Incubation with the Raven lasts twenty days, 

 during which the male feeds the female as she sits upon the 

 nest, and occasionally takes her place upon the .eggs ; the 

 wants of the young are supplied for a time by the parents 

 with great tenderness and assiduity ; but they afterwards 

 drive them from their own haunts when they are able to 

 provide for themselves. 



Though possessed of great power as well as courage, the 

 old birds make no defence against any attempt, by men or 

 boys, to rob their nest; but against the attack of other 

 birds, and even very large ones, they defend their eggs or 

 young with great boldness and perseverance. Gilbert White, 

 of Selborne, relates that his brother, the Rev. John White, 

 a very exact observer, had remarked, that a pair of Ravens 

 nesting in the Rock of Gibraltar, would suffer no Vulture 

 or Eagle to rest near their station, but would drive them 

 from the hill with amazing fury. On the rocky cliffs of 

 our own coast these birds make their nests very high up, 

 in crevices among the most precipitous and least accessible 

 places. They are observed in different parts of Ireland, in 

 the Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland. 



Southward in Europe, this bird is found from Gibraltar 



