SPRING-TIME ON THE MOUNTAINS. 65 



seen almost daily in and about their nest, repairing 

 and cleaning it from time to time. This habit of 

 visiting the nests long before the breeding season 

 commences, and from time to time after it is all 

 over, even during the late autumn and in mid- 

 winter, is a very curious one, and is common to 

 nearly all the British members of the Crow tribe ; 

 Magpies, Jackdaws, Choughs, Crows, and Rooks 

 all do so. This Raven's nest is a large and sub- 

 stantial structure, made of sticks, heather branches, 

 and pieces of turf, thickly festooned with masses 

 of sheep's wool, and lined with finer twigs, moss, 

 dry grass, and wool, all felted firmly and smoothly 

 together. The eggs are very small for the size 

 of the bird, and various shades of green in ground 

 colour, spotted and blotched with olive-brown and 

 gray. The old Ravens are anxious enough at 

 our intrusion, and croak their displeasure from the 

 rocks, disturbing a pair of Peregrines, which a 

 little later in the season will be bringing up their 

 brood on the face of the same majestic cliff. A 

 month later (in the middle of April) this fine bird 

 lays its eggs. The Peregrine does not make 

 much nest a little hollow in a crevice of the 

 cliffs, without lining or any other provision, is 

 where the eggs are laid. These are four or five 

 in number, and in colour exactly resemble those 

 of the Kestrel, but are, of course, twice the size. 

 The Peregrine is a noisy bird at the nest, and flies 

 to and fro and round and round before the face of 

 the cliff, chattering anxiously all the time. This 



