RA VEN. 
S9 
into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of 
the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall ; but still 
the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was 
flung from her nest ; and, though her parental affection 
deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, 
which brought her dead to the ground." 
Again, when writing i on the flight of birds, no doubt 
from observation, he says : " There is a peculiarity 
belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of 
the most incurious — they spend all their leisure time in 
striking or cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of 
playful skirmish ; and when they move from one place to 
another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, 
and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd 
gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with 
one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity." 
In the following letter,^ on the notes and language of 
birds, he writes that " ravens, beside their loud croak, can 
exert a deep and solemn note that makes the woods echo." 
The Calendar records that ravens build February 14th 
to 17th, and sit about March 17th. 
In the second series of Jesse's " Gleanings " it is said 
that White recorded, one 24th of October, "a flock of 
forty-six ravens over the hanger," which must have been 
an unusual occurrence even in those days ; but in his 
MS. Journal there are several references to " flocks " and 
" vast flocks " of ravens. 
In the Isle of Wight — at the time of the publication 
of Adams' Guide (1856) — there were several pairs nesting 
along the south coast, and More, writing in i860, says that 
they " build regularly in many parts." 
' Letter xlii. to Barrington. Selborne. August 7th, 1778. 
• Letter xliii. to Barrington. Selborne. September 9th, 1778. 
