170 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



will not. A Raven, and still more a pair of them, will 

 beat off and mob the formidable Skua gull or the Iceland 

 falcon. He will even engage in a not wholly unequal 

 combat on the ground with the long-necked heron, one 

 direct blow of whose spear-like beak would kill him on the 

 spot." 



An instance of still more surprising audacity is men- 

 tioned by Mr. R. B. Lodge, who, while in Albania, watched 

 a pair of Sea Eagles "flying in great circles over the 

 forest, constantly pursued by a pair of Ravens, which 

 bullied them most persistently, making all the time a 

 great outcry. It was an extraordinary sight to see the 

 great eagle flying away from the Ravens, and by dodging 

 and turning doing its best to evade its pursuers, without 

 attempting once to retaliate or to defend itself" 



A Raven's bill of fare is a very varied one. He does 

 not seem to mind whether his next meal is fresh killed 

 meat or carrion ; he enjoys both. A dead or ailing sheep, 

 a young partridge, birds, mice, and rats, each of these is a 

 dainty dish in his estimation. But, failing such good 

 things, he will make a meal off fruit or grain, insects, or 

 shellfish. And one naturalist, Mr. Howard Saunders, tells 

 how he has seen in the Balearic Islands a pair of Ravens 

 following the plough just as rooks do in England, and for 

 the same reason. 



Says Charles St. John : " When a whale or other large 

 fish is driven ashore on the coast of any of the northern 

 islands, the Ravens collect in amazing numbers, almost 

 immediately coming from all directions and from all dis- 

 tances, led by the unerring instinct which tells them that 

 a feast is to be found in a particular spot." 



And the same writer gives a striking instance of this 

 instinct. He had shot at a stag, but the wounded animal 



