( 26 ) 

 NOTES ON SOMERSETSHIRE RAVENS. 



BY 



STANLEY LEWIS. 



The following notes are simple records of what the Ravens 

 {Corviis c. corax) did at the cliffs at Cheddar, Somerset, in 

 the early spring of 1919. Soon after my observations com- 

 menced I clisco^^ered that the fourth primary was missing in 

 the left wing of the male bird and this helped me consider- 

 ably in making sure of the sex of either bird when it had to 

 be done quickly ; for although the male was decidedly larger, 

 there were times when after a momentary glimpse this gap, 

 for so it appeared, turned an otherwise useless observation 

 into an interesting one. 



Both birds are resident in the Mendips all the year round, 

 and one or both have daily regular beats over well-stocked 

 rabbit-warrens. The bleached heaps of rabbit bones here and 

 there speak plainly of how the appetites of these monstrous 

 crows are appeased. When on these hunting excursions 

 the Raven flies low, not exactly skimming the ground, but as 

 compared with its usual altitude. I noted this on February 

 15th at Blackdown on a very foggy da3^ and again on April 

 ist at the old Priddy mines ; the male bird passed at a height 

 of about forty to fifty yards. Before and during nidification 

 both birds often hunt together, as I have seen them on several 

 occasions, miles from home. 



The first nesting material was carried on February 4th. 

 The birds selected a vertical fissure in one of the turret rocks, 

 at the bottom of which reposed a lot of dead sticks, no doubt 

 the remains of a former nest, probably the 1917 structure. 

 On this old site they began to construct their new one, about 

 300 feet up from the roadway and forty sheer from the top. 

 Ravens are abroad at the first streak of daylight, making 

 the cliffs resound with their defiant barks, those of the male 

 syllabled by me as " Konk, Konk, Konk," which at the 

 distance may be likened to the echoing sounds of a horn of 

 a motor coming up the cliff road. Nest -building is shared 

 equally by both sexes daring the early morning and afternoon. 

 In the middle of the day they are absent from the cliffs 

 hunting their beats for food, returning (early February) 

 about 3 p.m. The male arrives first, for they go off singly 

 and come back singly, but usually in the same direction. 

 On one occasion the female was very late in returning home, 

 and the male treated me to a wonderful display of his vocal 



