i6o Ornithological Observations and Reflections in Shetland. 



cliff or hill-top, from which, on your passing over any neigh- 

 bouring one, they instantly descry you, and rise with a disap- 

 proving croak. After beating about, for a little, in a manner 

 strongly expressive of a desire to be rid of you, which, without 

 a doubt, is what they feel, they pass over the nearest elevated 

 point, and for a long time, are not seen again. Thus it is almost 

 impossible to surprise them. You see them just a moment 

 after they have seen you, which, for all strategic purposes, on 

 your part, is a moment too late. The nest is usually in the 

 neighbourhood of where the birds — or one of them — rise, and 

 thus, though in the spring their idea may be to distract attention 

 from it, it is, in fact, betrayed by their action. For myself, 

 however, I doubt if this be their motive, or, rather, the philos- 

 ophy of their action, for the nest of a Raven is so huge and 

 conspicuous that, if visible at all, it is easily seen when attention 

 is thus directed to it. More probably it is to guard the young, 

 who appear on the scene very early, that its owners keep this 

 outlook, and their strategy, as in the case of birds generally — 

 so at least I imagine — has probably no special relation to man — 

 from whom, in early times, most birds would have been fairly 

 secure — but rather to such predatory species, whose habits 

 make, or once made them, an every day source of danger or 

 annoyance. Most of these would find it difficult to contend 

 against a pair of Ravens animated by the a-ropyi] — to adopt 

 (through Aristotle) Gilbert White's phraseology — so that these 

 demonstrations would cause them immediately to take flight, 

 in such a state of mind, and with such harassment, as would 

 leave them scant leisure for making discoveries. 



The note which I have, during this autumn visit, heard 

 Ravens utter, is quite different from those constantly on their 

 beaks, during the springtime, nor have they once rolled over 

 on their backs, in aerial tumble, a fact which confirms me in 

 the impression that this last is a nuptial antic, as the note then 

 used is, no doubt, the love-call or love-song. 

 fTo he contijiued) 

 : o : 



Utricularia intermedia, etc., near York. — In The 

 Naturalist, January, 1913, No. 672, page 19, there is a very 

 interesting note by Mr. Arthur Bennett of Croydon on Utricu- 

 laria ochroleuca Hartm., from Strensall Common, Yorkshire, 

 V.C. 62, collected by the late George Stabler in 1881. I 

 have much pleasure in recording the discovery of Utricularia 

 intermedia Hayne., on Strensall Common, August, 1916, by my 

 dear friend. Corporal Andrew Templeman (Royal Scots Greys). 

 Mr. Bennett considers this to be a new record for Yorkshire. 

 Mr. Templeman also found a colony of the Bee Orchis, 

 Ophrys apifera Huds., on Strensall Common in July, 1916.— 

 Henry J. Wilkinson, 



Naturalist, 



