154 " ^J^he Raven Wys!' [Sess. 



even overcast in the north-west, where a grt;at bank of 

 cumuli loomed a little threateningly behind the rugged hill- 

 crests, but bathed in a glowing sunshine and pregnant with 

 the promise of the perfect May day. 



We trudged it merrily for four or five miles along a hill 

 road until the mouth of the Kaven glen lay plain ahead of 

 us. Then we diverged and made a bee-line, as straight as 

 natural obstacles and ornithological whims permitted, diagon- 

 ally across the hill-face towards the Eaven crag. When a 

 mile or less away from it a raven-looking bird, hanging over 

 the skyline of the hill we tramped, brought us to a stand-still. 

 There were other things — you will not forget that it was a 

 hill we tramped, that there was a hot sun, that we were not 

 lightly laden, that (more critical than any) we were transgress- 

 ing, as is our inveterate habit, all the canons of modern bird- 

 nesting, and going keeperless, permissionless — had the same 

 effect ; but they are not important — not at all events ornitho- 

 logically important. We lay a quarter of an hour — nothing 

 loath — and watched this bird, without remuneration. It 

 flapped upwards, downwards, circled, appeared at the distance 

 to hover, disappeared, reappeared, flapped and flapped again in 

 that aimless capricious fashion with which hill fowl are wont 

 to raise grey hairs on the heads of long-suffering bird men. 

 We were not distressed when it disappeared for a more 

 lengthy interval than previously and left us free to pursue 

 our way without the anxious thought that we had neglected a 

 chance of securing a valuable clue, and if disaster had over- 

 taken our objective nest we might stand in need of all the 

 clues we could muster in locating the alternative nesting site 

 of the same pair. We saw the same bird again once or twice, 

 but we lost sight of it as we neared the cliff, and when we 

 finally rested on the steep slope of the gorge of the burn and 

 faced the nesting crag which towered above the other side of 

 the gorge, there was no sign of a Eaven in all the air around. 

 We were a little displeased at this. We were in full view of 

 any bird perched on the whole range of rock, and according 

 to precedent a sepulchral voice ought to have been expressing 

 his sentiments overhead. Perhaps, came the cheerless sugges- 

 tion, the young were flown. It was possible, a review of all 

 our careful calculations and comparison with former observa- 



