VOL. XIV.] NOTES ON SOMERSETSHIRE RAVENS. 29 



again left and went northwards but soon came back, the 

 male having returned in her absence. At 6.15 p.m., when 

 I left, the female was quietly sitting on the eggs and the 

 male squatting down closely on a jutting piece of rock about 

 twenty feet above her. 



For convenience, I may now state that incubation was 

 undertaken entirely by the female, but for the sake of accuracy 

 I must not omit to mention the solitary exception of a few 

 seconds' duration that proves fairly conclusively that the 

 male Raven does not incubate : — 



March 3rd (extract from note) : " The female comes off 

 again with the ' Kawk, Kawk, Kawk, Kawk ' note quickly 

 repeated ; the cock answers from above, to her surprise I 

 think, and they both fly off together across over the quarry 

 and out of sight. The male returns in five minutes and flies 

 on to the nest : female arrives and circles Buzzard -fashion 

 overhead with vibrating notes ; the male, perched on the 

 nest side contemplating the contents, utters a few hoarse 

 notes, steps down into the nest, tail in view, and apparently 

 attempts to squat or else he is busy placing something. The 

 female flies on to the nest and at once begins to settle down 

 in it, pushing the male gradually, for I can see his tail all 

 the time, sideways out of her way ; his body is close to the 

 rock and side of the nest, for his right wing is partly opened 

 and flattened up against the cliff. The hen settles fairly 

 on the nest, and the cock flops off and flies away." 



During the period of incubation the male bird's duties are 

 to clean himself, feed himself, announce to the female the 

 approach of an intruder and bring in food for her. All these 

 he carried out faithfully and well ; when he was on guard 

 it was impossible to get to my station without his sending 

 forth an alarm ; there were times, of course, when he was 

 awa\' hunting. 



Some days the weather was simply vile, very cold north 

 winds with a mixture of rain and snow, and on some days of 

 this description the male was very silent, and would sit 

 for an hour at a time on the branch of a bush close to the 

 nest, and thoroughly clean himself. He usually announced 

 his arrival with food by uttering a loud " Kawk " or " Wauk," 

 when his mate, as a rule, immediately left the nest and flew 

 to him. The following is an extract from my notes taken 

 at the time : — 



" ]\Iarch 6th : Mendips clothed with three inches of snow 

 on the highest parts. At 4.15 p.m. the male came up on 

 the opposite headland and pitched well in sight, calling 



