XVI 



RAVEN 



'ANY years of severe persecution have driven this 

 fine bird to seek his home far away from the 

 haunt of man, and in those wild districts, where 

 the tourist and motor-car are almost unknown, I 

 have found him. But even in these secluded 

 haunts he has another enemy to contend with the egg-collector; 

 and in some districts that I know several pairs of birds try in 

 vain to rear a brood. However, I am glad to say that he still 

 reigns supreme in many rocky homes, and in one of his very 

 wildest haunts where, by the way, I am writing this book two 

 pairs are annually successful in rearing a family. This is, indeed, 

 one of Nature's most romantic spots, far away off the western 

 shores of Scotland, where the great cliffs are incessantly beaten by 

 the ever-restless Atlantic, and to-day, as I stood on the brink of 

 that vast cliff, with thirteen hundred feet between me and the sea, 

 I could well realise that the Ravens were safe here. I have seen 

 many Ravens' nests in different parts of these islands, but never 

 have I seen a safer place for a nest than on this towering 

 precipice. It is now late in the nesting season (July), and the 

 young are away, seeking their own livelihood. 



By those who do not know him, the Raven is branded as a 

 cruel outlaw ; but this I know, and can well prove, that he is not 

 such a tyrant as most people think. I have facts from very many 



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