THE OOLOGIST 



1D7 



and soft grass blades, and are warm- 

 ly lined with grasses, moss, and an- 

 imal hair. Five eggs is the usual num- 

 ber to a set but as many as seven 

 have at times been found. They are 

 greenish in ground color and are spot- 

 ted and blotched with shades of drab, 

 brown and lavender, and measure 2.92 

 x 1.38 inches. 



The birds are quite attached to a 

 place once selected for an abode and 

 will return to it after being repeated- 

 ly disturbed. An old man who has 

 lived nearly all his life near a cliff a 

 few miles distant from State College, 

 Pa., informed me that he had seen 

 Ravens there for more than forty 

 years. Since Ravens are known to at- 

 tain a great age it is probable that the 

 preceding birds were quite aged. 



So far as the writer is able to learn 

 the first authentic set of Raven's 

 eggs from Pennsylvania was taken 

 by Professor R. C. Harlow near State 

 College. Late in February, 1910, he 

 discovered an almost completed nest 

 of this species built on a projecting 

 crag of a thirty foot bluff. The bluff 

 was situa + ed in a gap in a mountain 

 ridge which bordered an open space of 

 comparatively level farm land. On 

 March 1 the nest was again visited 

 and a set of five eggs collected from 

 it. The birds soon had another nest 

 and on March 16 a second set of five 

 eggs was secured. Still the birds were 

 persistent and laid a third clutch, con- 

 sisting of four eggs. In 1911 the same 

 pair nested, and Professor Harlow se- 

 cured a fourth set of eggs, five in num- 

 ber. 



Through the courtesy of Prof. Har- 

 low the writer was directed to a 

 Raven's nest in southern Clinton Coun- 

 ty, Pa. A young man, while trout fish- 

 ing in that region in the spring of 1912, 

 discovered a nest and young birds and 

 brought a report of it back to State 

 College. Accompanied by Prof. Har- 



low I took the train to a small town 

 which landed us nine miles from our 

 destination. It was late in the after- 

 noon when we finally approached an 

 abrupt turn in the mountain gulch and 

 emerged into a more open place on 

 the south side of which stood a jagged 

 bluff. By standing in the little moun- 

 tain road I was able to throw a stone 

 across the gulch and against the cliff. 

 No sooner had the stone struck than 

 out of an indentation flopped a Raven 

 and sailed away over the neighboring 

 hemlocks. The bird soon returned 

 and after one circle about departed 

 and was seen no more. I was soon up 

 to the niche in the damp wall of rocks 

 and peered upon the five green eggs 

 that cozily rested on the lining of 

 green moss and deer's hair. This set 

 is now in the writer's collection and 

 was taken on the day of discovery, 

 March 13, 1913. The eggs are pea 

 green in ground color and are spotted 

 and blotched with shades of brown and 

 drab. The five specimens measure re- 

 spectively, 1.95x1.30; 2.08x1.30; 1.0 J 

 xl.30; 1.88x1.27; 1.86x1.27. 



Early in April Prof. Harlow again 

 visited the nest in Clinton County and 

 found that the Ravens had not deposit- 

 ed a second set but that the pair of 

 birds had moved to a smaller bluff far- 

 ther down the gulch and had there 

 built a larger nest than the first one; 

 it was only about ten feet up and 

 was not protected above by rocks, as 

 is the usual case with nests of this 

 bird. 



April 15, the writer revisited the re- 

 gion for the purpose of obtaining some 

 photographs of the nests, the cliffs, 

 and the surroundings; upon reaching 

 the nest number two he found it empty 

 and no Ravens about. 



THE BIRD OR THE CAT 



Has become a scratching subject 

 which is making the feathers fly in 



