The Raven 



invading oologist. Perhaps this is why the unreasoning Falcon some- 

 times falls upon her neighbor Ravens so unmercifully when her own 

 nest is threatened. Nowhere else in the bird-world have I seen such 

 spirited encounters, or any where character shone out so clearly as in 

 those between Hawk and Raven. One such I recall in particular. Hav- 

 ing found a Raven's nest commanded by a facing bank, I planted myself 

 opposite for photographic purposes. Warned by her mate, the sitting 

 bird had stolen from her nest unseen, and the pair of them had been 

 playing hide-and-seek with me ever since. Now and again one of them 

 would sail over the hilltop, glance downward, and circle back. Or, 

 again, I would descry them both down the valley, wheeling majestically, 

 as is their wont, in paired flight, with stiff parallel wings, their bodies 

 being mantained at a distance of about two feet. Their hearts were in 

 the nest, no doubt, but their visible anxieties were greatly restrained 

 by the petulant dashes of a Prairie Falcon who, some six numbers up 

 the narrow canyon street, was dreading the hour of her own visitation. 

 As often as the Ravens did venture 

 near, the Falcon fell upon one or the 

 other of them with raucous voice 

 and eyes ablaze. In the rout which 

 followed, the terror of the sable 

 birds was evidenced not alone by the 

 celerity of the pursued one, but by 

 the distress cries of its anxious mate. 

 As for the chasee, he (or she) never 

 had time to "holler." I tried 

 desperately to get a snapshot of one 

 of these encounters, but the scene 

 of battle shifted so rapidly, or was 

 so often carried below the horizon 

 line, that it proved quite baffling. 

 Once I did press the button at close 

 range, but that time the onslaught 

 was so terrible that the birds passed 

 off the plate in about one ten- 

 thousandth of a second, and they 

 swept by within twenty feet of me 



. i .... . . Taken in San Luis Obispo County 



with a noise like ripping canvas. Pholo hy the Aulhor 



But at that I never saw a Raven A SHO rt scramble 



hurt ! For the Raven is not only FRED TRUESDALE ON duty 



ii 



