CHAPTER XXVII 



More about Ravens Sagacity of Powers of smell in birds Cries of the 

 Raven Ravens and Collies Nature's scavengers Diseased Salmon and 

 Grouse Strange tenacity of life Nature a stoic Flight, size, and weight 

 of Ravens Food of. 



I HAD many most interesting experiences with Ravens in 

 Merionethshire, frequently having these wildest of birds 

 under observation from a concealment, at very close quarters, 

 and sometimes several of them at the same time ; but the 

 Raven is not easily outwitted. Once or twice, indeed, it 

 required no great stretch of imagination to suppose that an 

 individual actually entered into the fun of the thing, and 

 flew off laughing and not always in his sleeve at the trick 

 he had discovered. Occasionally, one quite posed for 

 having his portrait taken, and on more than one of these 

 rare occasions I was so unlucky as either not to have a 

 camera with me, or not to have got it fixed up before the 

 sitter's arrival. There was one place at the corner of an 

 open straggling wood of old oaks, with one or two big silver 

 and Scotch firs in it, round which Ravens were frequently 

 to be seen soaring. It was often a sort of gathering place 

 about which a dozen, or sometimes twice as many of the 

 birds would hang for half an hour, or longer, ere departing 

 for their roosting place in the afternoon ; but light was then 

 never good enough for snap-shotting, and, although many 

 exposures at beautiful subjects were made, few of them 

 were good enough to print from. In the mornings, a few 

 of the outgoing birds would sometimes tarry there for a 

 short time, but then again it was usually before there was 

 light enough for photography. 



In order to try and induce some of the Ravens to come 

 to this spot in good light, I dragged the remains of a dead 



sheep to it from a good half-mile's distance, and having 



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