178 



who was with us knew that ravens nested there, and 

 we began to beat the bushes for the nest or nestling, 

 the situation of the sound rendering it almost impossible 

 that the nest could be there. After a little search, we 

 found a nestling that had dropped from the cliff rather 

 prematurely, and was quite unable to fly, but was 

 huddled together close by the rock, with one of the 

 parents watching and croaking over it. The old one 

 made some demonstrations of hostility, or rather, 

 perhaps, of reluctance to quit the charge ; our friend, 

 who wished to have a raven in his stable yard, made 

 prize of the young one, which he took in a handkerchief 

 in his hand, with the head out ; and the old one fol- 

 lowed almost to his house, which was more than two 

 miles distant. The bird had received no injury, ate readily 

 as soon as it was out of the handkerchief, grew up very 

 tame, and is, we suppose, still alive. 



Notwithstanding the attention which the ravens pay 

 to their offspring, as long as they are in a helpless 

 state, they are driven from the nest and the neighbour- 

 hood the moment they are able to shift for themselves, 

 and never again permitted to revisit it. The great age 

 to which ravens live, the food that they require, and 

 the succession of broods that they rear, render this 

 distribution of them necessary. The vast attention 

 that they pay to the nest in close time, necessarily 

 confines them to a limited range then, and they do 

 not appear at any time to make very long excursions. 

 It is the same with eagles, and all the other birds in 

 which the attachment of the pair continues throughout 

 the year, and for life. The attachment to home 

 appears always to be an accompaniment of that ; and 



