194 Rambles among the Wild Birds.


Peewit, these gambols of the cock Raven are probably practised

with the intention of diverting the intruder’s attention from the

nest and young.


Fascinating and intelligent as the Raven is in captivity,

there are few naturalists who would not rather see him in a wild

and natural state. His boldness and cunning enable him to take

pretty good care of himself, and he knows very well how close

he may approach to a dangerous looking object. I have some¬

times sat down on the cliffs above a nest and seen the old birds

perched on a rock close at hand and eyeing me narrowly, but a

very slight movement on my part would soon send them, croaking

out of harm’s way. These birds probably keep to certain favourite

rocks when devouring their prey, or at least when digesting it,

as numbers of tlirown-up pellets of fur and small bones may be

found in certain spots near the nest.


I will end these notes of some of my rambles among the

Ravens’ haunts with the account of an incident I once wit¬

nessed, and which is probably of frequent occurrence on the rocky

cliffs where the Raven has only the Peregrine Falcon as a rival for

the mastery of the air. The account is copied straight from my

notes which were scribbled down some six years ago, at the time

when I saw the incident, and the reader must pardon me if my

knowledge of the terms used in falconry has been at fault. It

runs thus: “April 2nd, 1899. The Ravens and Peregrines at

Baggy Point were apparently nesting near to one another. The

Ravens’ nest we found on March 28th on a steep precipice at the

end of the Point, facing W. O11 that day we only saw one of the

Ravens and both the Falcons. On April 2nd we saw both the

Ravens, who were very anxious about their nest, and continually

flew over our heads uttering harsh croaks. The nest almost

certainly contained young birds. Every now and then one of

the Peregrines, from its size probably the tiercel, appeared above

the cliff, and then followed a series of tussels between Falcon

and Ravens. The Peregrine towered above one of the Ravens

and “waiting on” till he saw his opportunity, suddenly

“ stooped ” at him, but never appeared actually to strike him.

As soon as the Falcon “ stooped” the Raven turned on his back

in mid-air, and presented beak and claw at the Falcon, uttering



