AXD NEIGHBOURHOOD. 211 



rocks, earth- cliffs, or old buikUngs, not infrequently 

 in hollow trees ; the eggs are piu'e white. The 

 Rose-coloured Pastor thrives well in captivity, but 

 the constant chatter of even a single bird is almost 

 overpowering in a room. 



94. RAVEN. 



Corviis corax. 



Although this species was formerly common and 

 well known in our county, we fear that in now 

 treating of it as a Northamptonshire bird we must 

 confine ourselves almost exclusively to the use of the 

 past tense, as the well authenticated notices of its 

 occurrence of late years within our borders which 

 have come to our knowledge are very few and far 

 between. Sir Charles Isham, in a letter dated 

 Lamport Hall, August 28, 1880, writes as follows: — 

 " A pair of Ravens were about here this spring, but 

 I did not see them ; my keeper did frequently, also 

 another person who knew them well; he thought 

 that they intended to build in an oak tree in a 

 meadow near the brook. I told this to my old 

 groom who had been here all his life, and died 

 above eighty years old a few months since ; he told 

 me that he took the last nest in the parish in that 

 very tree more than sixty years ago ; he also took 

 one in Scotland Wood near here when a boy." 

 Mr. A. G. Elliot, of Stamford, informs me that a 

 Raven killed by John Barwell in Haringworth Wood, 

 May 1865, " had a deal of rufous-brown on the upper 

 wing-coverts." Another bird of the same species 

 was seen at the same time but not killed. Mr. J. 



p2 



