98 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



frightened. Bold and fearless as he was ordinarily, j-et if a hlue-bottle 

 or other large fly came near him he showed the most abject terror. 



It is not difficult to attract a Raven within range by lying down per- 

 fectly still upon the ground as if you were dead. We have done this 

 successfully upon the coast. At first the Eaven will alight at a cautious 

 distance ; but if you remain quite motionless he will after a time begin to 

 approach with long sidling hops, and may chance to come sufficiently near 

 to rue his temerity if you have a concealed gun. 



Instances came under Col. Montagu's observation of Ravens nesting in 

 a tree at no great distance from a rookery, in order to have an easy living 

 upon the eggs and young Rooks, and he knew of a rookery having been 

 broken up and the Rooks compelled to go elsewhere from the persecution 

 they thus sustained from their powerful neighbours. 



A friend of Mr. Gatcombe's scraped acquaintance with a Raven inhabiting 

 the wild cliff at Tintagel, which became so familiar with his presence that 

 it really seemed pleased with his company, and would actually fly to meet 

 him every morning when he approached the jilace, and alight within a few 

 yards of his feet, eying him knowingly all the while, without exhibiting 

 the slightest symptom of fear. On one occasion when coming round a 

 sudden turn on the clifl", a long waj' from the usual place, happening to 

 see his friend fly by in quite another direction, he stopped and exclaimed, 

 " Hulloa there, where are you going in such a hurry ? " At this the bird 

 actually turned round and alighted on a wall close by his side, afterwards 

 following him all the way to the spot on the top of the clifl' just under 

 which the nest was placed. 



" A dealer in live birds at Plymouth has had nearly twenty young 

 Ravens sent to him this season from the coast of Cornwall ; the men who 

 got them said that they did so at the risk of their lives, and had to walk 

 twentv miles and carry 40 lb. of rope to the breeding-places." (J. Gr., 

 May 1872.) 



"•I found Ravens plentiful among the magnificent cliffs at Ilfracombe, and 

 on one occasion saw a flock of seven or eight flying b_v the celebrated Tors 

 Walks, where a pair or two may be daily seen. It is very curious to 

 watch the singular evolutions performed by a pair of Ravens when dis- 

 turbed in their haunts, even at this time of the year, but more especially 

 during the nesting-season. At such times they will rise croaking aljove 

 the intruder's head, pass and repass, rising, falling, and tumbling almost 

 over in the air as if hit, and disappearing behind a projecting crag, will 

 reappear from quite a different quarter over the brow of the cliff, and 

 continue their manoeuvres until the invader has left the spot." (J. G., 

 October loth, 1S75 ; Zool. p. 4717.) 



Great numbers of Ravens frequented a field at Compton, near Plymouth, 

 to feed upon offal and the sweepings of slaughter-houses deposited there in 

 April 1855 (T. R. A. B.). 



We have seen Eaveus near Topshara and Teignmoiith, but not since ISGo. A pair 

 used to breed at Fvillerton, and one was seen at Stoke "Wood, near Exeter, about 1S73, 

 by Rev. J. Hellius. One was shot at Downes, near Crediton, October 12, 1SS8 

 (Pidsley, ' B. of Devonshire,' p. 54). Ravens breed at Wembury on the chffs of the 



