198 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



westward of that place as recently as 1905, but since that 

 date very few have been seen. In June, 1913, E. G. Holt made 

 a trip from Logan to Jasper in search of the birds, but failed 

 to see any. One was reported to have been seen near Logan 

 in the summer of 1912 and a pair was said to have nested in 

 the spring of 1913 in the bluffs on Sipsey Fork, near Ardell. 

 A few were reported to him also at Natural Bridge. 



In May, 1914, J. L. Peters and the writer camped four days 

 on Sipsey Fork near the mouth of Rock Creek (East Fork of 

 Sipsey) and with the assistance of a local hunter, explored the 

 cliffs on all the streams in that vicinity, but failed to find a 

 nest or even to see a raven, although single birds were twice 

 seen by other people during that time and we were shown a 

 nest which had been occupied the previous year. Returning 

 in June, Peters made another unsuccessful attempt to secure 

 specimens, seeing at that time three ravens which had been 

 attracted by the carcass of a yearling calf which had fallen 

 from a cliff. In 1915, L. J. Goldman visited the same region 

 and after considerable searching located, on April 4, a raven's 

 nest on Sipsey Fork a short distance above the mouth of Rock 

 Creek, The nest was placed in a crevice on the sheer face of 

 a cliff, about 60 feet from the ground, was strongly built of 

 sticks and lined with grass and what appeared to be goat's 

 hair, and contained two nearly feather less young, quite help- 

 less, but able to make themselves heard. Reaching the nest 

 by sliding down a rope lowered from above, Mr. Goldman 

 placed several steel traps on and about the nest and retired to 

 a safe distance to watch developments. After several hours 

 one of the old birds returned but did not approach closely, and 

 in a short time flew away. The following morning the male 

 bird was found caught in a trap, the female never having re- 

 turned. This specimen, the only one known from Alabama, 

 has recently been made the type of a new subspecies, as indi- 

 cated above. 



In April, 1914, I visited Sand Mountain, in the extreme 

 northeastern corner of Jackson County, camping for four days 

 near the rim of Long Island Creek gulch, in which locality 

 E. W. Graves had seen a few ravens in May, 1912, and April, 

 1913. In company with Mr. Graves, I explored the gulches 



