RAVEN. 
whom they might have belonged. A few scraps, probably from an old fustian jacket, the toe-cap and sole of a 
boot, and tlie texture of the small remaining pieces of rag, indicated that their owner had belonged to the labouring 
class or might have been a tramp. As the Ravens were always noticed near the same spot, I have not the 
slightest doubt that they had discovered the body, and returned there regularly to feed as long as they could 
find any thing to prey upon. Though 1 have passed the same hill l-epeatcdly of late years, I have never seen 
one of these birds within miles of the spot since the autumn previous to the discovery of the remains. 
Game-preservers are so accustomed to look upon the Raven as an enemy, that they commonly forget his 
black feathers may possibly conceal a few redeeming qualities. There is, however, little doubt that in some 
districts he will consume a number of i*ats in the course of the year. I watched one on the shores of the Pirth of 
Forth, near Tantallon, busily engaged in making a meal off a large rat lie had surprised below high-water mark. 
Quantities of these destructive brutes resort during the summer to this part of the coast, betaking themselves 
in winter to the farmsteadings. Other instances of an almost similar nature have come under my notice. 
The Raven, like most of the Crow tribe, is remarkably easy to capture by means of traps. Though 
generally considered a cunning and sagacious bird, he appears to be unable to resist a bait, even if lie has 
witnessed one of his kind struggling at the identical spot a short time previously. While laying out traps a 
few years back in Perthshire, early in September, for some Buzzards which had been seen frequenting the high 
moors (one or two of which I was anxious to secure as specimens), I noticed that large flocks of Ravens were 
busy searching the hills for food. We had only set one trap, and moved about a quarter of a mile to prepare a 
spot for another, when I became aware by the commotion among the black party that one of their number 
must have been taken. Between a dozen and a score were flying in circles over the place, darting down and 
croaking in the greatest excitement. When we had completed the second trap, we returned to the first, and, 
after removing the victim and resetting the trap, proceeded uphill to set a third. Before the work was again 
finished it was evident that two more were taken ; and during the whole day we could set no more than four traps, 
as I did not like to leave the poor brutes when I knew they were struggling in the traps. Every bird caught 
after the first one (and there were over a dozen captured) must have seen the fate of those that approached the 
bait; but it had no effect as a warning. As I stated previously, these Ravens were perfectly harmless on the 
moors at this season ; and though I have known as many as two or three hundred captured before the winter 
set in, it would, I am now convinced, have been no detriment to the ground had they remained unmolested. It 
was, however, impossible to set a trap in the open with any conspicuous bait without it being sooner or later 
discovered by these birds. 
Early in September 1805 I captured, in the north-west of Perthshire, a Raven whose tongue protruded 
through a small hole in the loose membrane under the lower mandible. The skin was perfectly healed round 
the wound, though the bifurcation at the base of the tongue prevented the bird retracting it into the mouth. 
It is difficult to imagine how such a mishap could possibly have been brought about, unless it was caused by a 
sharp-pointed bone belonging to some prey that the bird had been tearing, which passed through the skin, and 
was followed by the tongue in the efforts of the sufferer to clear the wound. This Raven was in perfect health 
and plumage, and weighed as much as (if not more than) two or three others taken at the same time. During the 
following year I trapped another in precisely the same plight. As in the former case, its misfortune appeared 
to have had not the slightest effect on its health or condition. 
In order to become thoroughly acquainted with the manner in which the Raven gains its living, and also 
to studv its habits when in company with other birds of prey, I have at different times put up bothies or 
shelters on the mountain-side, from which I was enabled to watch some dead carcass— either a sheep that had 
succumbed to disease, or a worn-out horse we had driven uphill and slaughtered for the purpose. Several 
writers have described so exactly how these foul-feeding birds revel in the midst of the decomposing remains 
and contend with loud and angry screams over their putrid banket, that it is useless for me to enter into the 
details of such an unsavoury subject. 
