2 3 o THE LAND'S END 



The day after the second raid I was down among 

 the rocks and bushes by the sea, half a mile from the 

 farm, when I heard the repeated angry croak of a 

 raven not far away. He was perched on a rock on 

 the further side of a gully a couple of hundred yards 

 from me, and getting my binocular on to him I was 

 surprised at his excited appearance as I could see 

 nothing to account for such a state. Presently he 

 rose up to a height of about a hundred yards in the 

 air, then turning and letting himself go he came down 

 like a raven gone mad, violently doubling about this 

 way and that in his descent until, nearing the ground, 

 he struck savagely at a fox which I now perceived for 

 the first time. A big gaunt-looking dog-fox standing 

 motionless on a large rock rising about three feet 

 above the surface. Just as the raven made the last 

 sudden twist in his flight and delivered his blow the 

 fox dropped flat down on the stone as if he had 

 dropped dead, then, as the raven rose, he got up and 

 stood again, motionless as before. Again and again the 

 raven repeated the mad swoop, eight or nine swoops 

 following in quick succession, and on every occasion the 

 fox threw himself down just as the blow was struck, 

 but invariably keeping his face towards the assailant 

 with his mouth wide open and all his dangerous teeth 

 displayed. Then the raven gave it up ; he could not 

 drive the fox from the big flat-topped rock on which 

 he had placed himself apparently to defy the bird, 

 and he knew, I imagined, that he was playing an 

 exceedingly dangerous game. The extraordinary 

 manner in which he twisted about in descending 



