222 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



This fine bird is unfortunately a most mischievous 

 fellow, and that to more people than the gamekeeper, 

 for lambs and even sheep often fall a prey to him. 

 In the Shetland Islands, where Ravens are very 

 numerous, even colts and ponies are often killed by 

 them ; the eye seems to be invariably the first place 

 attacked. The destructive propensities of the Raven 

 may be judged of from the following note in the 

 ' Zoologist/ from the pen of Dr. Saxby, who, writing 

 from Shetland, says as soon as the young Ravens 

 require a supply of food, the parents become exces- 

 sively mischievous : " No uncovered egg will then be 

 safe, and ducks, hens, lambs and foals will be 

 mercilessly slaughtered. Even full-grown ponies 

 will not be secure if they exhibit any signs of weak- 

 ness. The first attack is always made upon one eye, 

 and then, as the tortured animal endeavours to alle- 

 viate the agony by rubbing the wound upon the 

 ground, the other eye is pierced and the cruel bird 

 flies off only to return when its victim is dead. A 

 pony struggling to extricate itself from a peat-bog is 

 almost certain to be destroyed by Ravens if it 

 remain long unaided." Besides what has been 

 already mentioned, the food of the Raven consists 

 of small animals, birds, reptiles, insects, grain, dead 

 fish and carrion. 



With such destructive propensities as these, it is 

 not to be wondered at that the Raven should be 

 persecuted, and that in thickly inhabited and highly- 



