ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 7 



fierce croak, he dashed the side of his head and powerful 

 beak against the hawks, and sent them tumbling to the 

 ground, where for a short time they sat in utter dismay. 

 They were unhurt, however, as the raven had neither 

 bitten nor tried to bite them. They shortly after 

 ascended a few perches, and stood side by side, glancing 

 upward at their new companion, but he took no heed 

 of them. He had made himself master of the abode ; 

 and when I heard about him some time ago, it was to 

 tell me he was still master, and that he and his two 

 neighbours were getting along without quarrelling, but 

 without any hobnobbing. 



The Carrion Crow. — Carrion crows, or blacknebs, are 

 scarcely so numerous as they were from twenty to 

 thirty years ago on the Cheviots, so that sport for the 

 gunner has somewhat improved of late. More than any 

 hunting bird this crow preys on the eggs of grouse, 

 red and black. He is besides, during summer and 

 autumn, ever on the look-out on the moors and hills for 

 " cheepers " and weakly birds, on which he also preys. 

 He eats much more fresh meat than carrion. The male 

 and female always hunt together, unless when accom- 

 panied for a month or two by their young. I have 

 seen as many as five pairs hunting at a time, each pair 

 far apart from the other pairs. This was on Peelfell. 

 Once, when at lunch there, a friend said he thought the 

 crows we thus saw flying and sailing overhead were rooks. 

 I thereupon ventured a l&ng shot, and was so fortunate 

 as to bring down one, which, as I expected, proved to 

 be a carrion crow. 



Rooks. — Notwithstanding an almost incessant war and 

 outcry of late years against rooks, for their depredations 

 on the farm lands, and on eggs and young of game birds 

 and farmyard fowls, they do not seem to diminish in 

 number. Every one who knows of the very large 

 number of rookeries in the Club's district must be aware 

 that rooks abound in far too large numbers all over it 



