Ravens 205 



had to be made, and the nest built, during some of the 

 stormiest weather of the year (for the Raven builds in 

 what is practically " the depth of winter "), the need for 

 attention to situation becomes more apparent. Probably 

 the whole range of rocks does not present another equally 

 favourable site, and in that may be found one of the chief 

 explanations of a fact, which sometimes calls for curious 

 remark, namely, that when, in the rare cases nowadays, 

 in which a new pair of Ravens seek to establish themselves 

 in an ancient, but long-deserted breeding place, the identical 

 spot that held the former nest is almost invariably at once 

 fixed upon. The date of the original selection of the site 

 is, in all probability, more shrouded in the mists of eld than 

 any event of which man possesses chronological evidence, 

 for the Raven inhabited the country long before the time 

 of the Druids ; and even supposing he were not then driven 

 to the inhospitable places that now offer him the greatest 

 protection he can claim, he has still occupied these, in 

 unbroken succession, for a much longer period than any 

 of the Ap-Jones, Llewelyns, or Fychans, by whom he is 

 now persecuted, can trace their pedigrees. 



Ravens pair for life, and remain together summer and 

 winter. They are the earliest of our birds to begin nesting 

 operations, and in Wales sometimes bestir themselves in 

 that direction even before the turn of the year. In winter 

 they roost together in large flocks, after the manner of 

 Rooks and other corvid* ; but their assemblies have gener- 

 ally all broken up by the middle of January, and for the 

 next six or seven months the regular roosting places are 

 untenanted, except by a few birds which apparently have 

 no inclination to nest that year. It is difficult to understand 

 these latter ; they go about in pairs, and some of them, at 

 least, are not young birds, yet they show no tendency 

 towards domestic affairs. It can hardly be that nesting 

 sites are not available, if they chose to run a few of the 

 ordinary risks ; and the keeper's suggestion that they are 

 " barren birds that have ceased to be of use to anyone, and 

 are only the cursedest nuisance to other people," is even 

 less tenable, although seriously put forward by its author, 



