THE RAVEN 
By T. GILBERT PEARSON 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 95 
One July morning in company with Edward El. Forbush and 
William P. Wharton I landed on a small wooded island off the 
coast of Maine to visit a group of Herons said to be nesting there. 
Clambering up the rocky shore we proceeded with some difficulty 
through the thick underbrush of the evergreen forest until the her- 
onry was reached. Here the trees were more scattering and the sun’s 
rays breaking through were ripening the thousands of gooseberries 
that covered the canopy of the vineS' below. The main colony consisted 
of Black-crowned Night Herons. Approaching a tree where one of their 
nests was located I was surprised to find on the ground beneath the 
remains of four young birds about one-third 'grown. The flesh had been 
picked from the bones, but these were in no way broken, which precluded 
the possibility of the mischief having been 'done by a predatory animal, 
if indeed any such existed on the island. While we stood about dis- 
cussing the matter, a cry, so wild and unusual rang through the 
damp woods that in an instant our attention was rivetted on the 
sound. Presently it was repeated and was quickly answered from 
two other directions. 
At once we began a search, which soon resulted in finding that 
the calls emanated from a family of young Ravens now well grown, 
but still attended by their parents. The evidence 
that the Ravens had destroyed these youns" Herons A 
Was iindeed scant. However, I (believe all the mem- Troublesome 
bers of the party, knowing something of the habits of Neighbor 
these birds, still regard it as 'probable that it was the 
Raven family that had raided the big stick nest in the evergreen trees. 
That something was feasting liberally on young Night Herons was quite 
plain for we found the fresh skeleton remains of at least a dozen of these 
birds, and a more thorough search of the colony might possibly have 
revealed others. This was on Bradbury Island in the year 1914. 
A few days before this Ravens and a Raven’s nest were found 
on Heron Island. On another occasion in company with Arthur H. 
Norton I was shown a large nest in an evergreen on No-Man’s-Land 
Island which we were told had been occupied by a pair of Ravens 
every spring for many years. Ravens may be found also on Old 
Man, Black Horse, and in fact, on almost any of the uninhabited 
islands along the Maine coast. 
In a little opening in the woods back of the Lake Hotel in Yellow- 
stone Park, Wyoming, the garbage from the hotel tables is dumped. 
Thousands of tourists annually visit this dump to see the bears that 
come out to feed there in the evening. This garbage heap affords 
another interest to the bird-student, for gulls come up from the Lake 
