THE NOETHEEN EAVEN. 401 



frequently be seen in the vicinity of the salmon canning stations, where they 

 live almost entirely on the offal of this fish. Clams also form a small portion 

 of their food ; these are said to be carried some distance in the air and then 

 dropped on the rocks to break the shells. They also prey to no small extent on 

 the young and the eggs of the different waterfowl which nest in suitable localities 

 in these northern regions in countless numbers. If we could believe all that 

 is told about these birds, they certainly appear to be far more mischievous and 

 impudent than our American Raven. They are said to show an inordinate hatred 

 for the Indian dogs, annoying and teasing them in various ways ; for instance, 

 should they find one asleep, they are said to drop a stick or stone upon the 

 unsuspecting animal out of pure mischief 



Mr. B. J. Bretherton, writing me about those birds from Kadiak, Alsaka, 

 says: "I saw a native dog one day with a bone which he vainly endeavored 

 to eat. While so engaged he was espied by a Raven, who flew down and tried to 

 scare the dog by loud cawing, in which he was shortly afterwards assisted by 

 another, both birds sidling up to the dog's head until they were barely out of 

 his reach. Just at this time a third Raven appeared on the scene and surveyed 

 the situation from an adjacent fence, but soon flew down behind the dog and 

 advanced until within reach of his tail, which he seized so roughly that the dog 

 turned for an instant to snap at him, and at the same moment the bone was 

 snatched away by one of the Ravens at his head." 



Mr. Chase Littlejohn writes: "In Alaska their nests are usually placed on 

 cliffs, and generally where they can obtain the eggs of other birds with which 

 to feed their young. They are very cunning. I remember a pair which nested 

 on a small island, within a stone's throw of the mainland, on which many Gulls 

 also nested. By acting in concert the latter can defend most of their eggs 

 against these birds, but whenever I visited this island to gather some for food 

 the Ravens took advantage of such an opportunity. They would pick up an 

 egg, carry it to the mainland, hide it carefully in the moss, return for another, 

 and so on until there were no more eggs or until I had left the island, when the 

 GruUs would protect what were left. While the Ravens were on the mainland 

 the GruUs would not molest them, and so they could eat their plunder in peace. 

 All eggs not eaten at once were carefully buried in the moss for futm-e use." 



While nesting sites on cliffs are generally resorted to along the seashore, in 

 the interior of Alaska on the Yukon River, as well as on the numerous streams 

 in British North America flowing into the Arctic Ocean, they resort to some 

 extent to trees, probably on account of the absence of the cliffs. Mr. James 

 Lockhart found a nest in a cleft of a poplar tree, 20 feet from the ground, at 

 Fort Yukon, Alaska, on May 29, 1862; and Mr. R. MacFarlane took a set of five 

 eggs from a nest placed near the top of a pine, 46 feet from the ground, near 

 Anderson River Fort, British North America, on April 30, 1864. 



Their nests resemble those of the American Raven in construction. Near 

 the seashore they ai-e usually lined with dry grasses, mosses, and seaweed, while 

 hair of the musk ox and moose is often used when procurable in the interior. 



16896— No. 3 26 



