1908-1909.] '' The Raven Wys" 159 



sions when you are more likely to be filled with admiration 

 for the powers of observation and arithmetic of the old 

 necromancers and with boundless contempt for the modern 

 bird manuals than when Eavens are at play. It is then that 

 these birds seem to exercise the whole of their extensive 

 vocabulary, and if you cannot, lacking the qualifications of 

 the old necromancers, count up to 65 inflections, you will at 

 least discover that the Eaven's conversational powers are not 

 by any means confined to that " one deep hoarse croak " 

 which is the most that three manuals which I have applied 

 to will allow. 



It is many years ago since the extent and variety of the 

 Eaven's speech was first impressed upon my brother and 

 myself, but it was not until the spring of 1906 that we 

 obtained an inkling of the Eaven's intense love of play. I 

 call it play for want of a better word, and to all appearance 

 it is quite analogous to what we call play in mammals, and 

 for that matter in humans. The particular experience to 

 which I refer throws such interesting light upon the Eaven's 

 character, and was so very vividly present in my mind while 

 I watched this pair, that I should be omitting the most 

 important evidence that weighed with me in my present 

 conclusions if I did not make some effort to recount the 

 former incident. 



Late in the afternoon of 11th March my brother and I were 

 working homeward across a stretch of high moor. We had 

 been on the hills throughout the whole of a tempestuous 

 day, enduring sudden impetuous sleet - showers and biting 

 winds, to look up a pair of Eavens whose nesting- site we 

 had first discovered away back in 1903. We had found 

 the old nest renovated and re-lined, but containing no eggs, 

 and were inclined to infer, mainly because we saw two old 

 Eavens leave the vicinity of the nest before we arrived, that 

 we were too early, and that eggs were not yet laid. We had 

 reasons, however, — reasons which I shall not enter into, — for 

 believing that the same pair had an alternative site on another 

 cliff, and it was well known to us that Eavens will often repair 

 and furnish all their mansions before making up their minds 

 which they will occupy for the season, and it was just possible 

 that another site had been favoured upon this occasion. We 



