The Raven 



frayed rope-ends, anything, no matter how filthy, which promises elas- 

 ticity, is pressed into service. The result is unsanitary and highly offen- 

 sive to the nostrils; and as if this were not enough, the sitting bird drenches 

 the whole recklessly with its own excrement, making of it a veritable 

 abode of harpies. 



Eggs to the number of five or six, rarely seven, are deposited, and 

 these are singularly frail as to shell structure. Many eggs are dented, 

 either by rough contact with their mates, or else by the impact of gravel 

 showered down the face of the nesting cliff. In most full-sized sets there 

 are one or two eggs notably lighter in color than their mates, and these 

 are definitely known to be either the first or the last laid, sometimes one 

 and sometimes the other, showing that the period of maximum pigment 

 supply is not strictly coincident with the period of egg deposition. 



The youngsters when hatched, and for a week or two thereafter, 

 are exceptionally ugly, being sinfully naked, and of a nondescript greenish 

 yellow and brownish color, with red mouth-linings. This latter point 

 is always worth mentioning, for a touch on the nest of a food-laden 

 parent is always taken as an order, Present mouths! And the display 



Taken in San Luis Obispo County 



THE RAVEN'S BROOD 



Photo by the Author 



THE EIRDMAN CRAMMED A WAIF (AND UNGUARANTEED) QUAIL'S EGG INTO THIS EXPECTANT MAW. THE RESULT WAS 



HIGHLY SATISFACTORY 



