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Raven (Page 24). — Is the largest member of the crow family, 
being 26 inches in length. It is now only to he found breeding in 
the wildest and most mountainous parts of the country, although at 
one time it was not uncommon as a British nesting bird. In colour 
the raven is a glossy black throughout. It has a very powerful 
beak adorned with whisker-like bristles. Like all the crows, it is 
very cunning and distrustful of man, which makes it almost im- 
possible to trap it, more especially so when once it reaches 
maturity. The raven is such a powerful, bold and hungry bird, 
waging a constant war on rabbits, hares and lambs, that gamekeepers 
and shepherds alike show it no mercy, endeavouring to shoot or 
trap it throughout the year irrespective of the close season. An 
old raven would rather starve than touch a piece of meat or a rabbit 
that had the least suspicion of a trap or a snare about it. It is 
gifted with wonderful sight and smell and never fails to detect carrion. 
The nesting-site is usually on an inaccessible face of a sea-cliff, 
either in a hole or a crack, or on a well-protected ledge, no attempt 
being made at concealment. The raven’s nest is a very bulky 
structure, often being quite 4 feet in diameter and composed of a 
whole cart-load of thick sticks, which to all appearance look as 
though they were merely thrown together, but in reality are very 
firmly interwoven. The nest slopes up towards the top, with a very 
deep cup-shaped hollow in the centre, thickly lined with wool and 
hair. The four to seven eggs, which are comparatively small for the 
size of the bird, are coloured very similarly to rooks’ eggs and are laid 
in March, or even as early as February in some cases, it being quite 
a usual occurrence for the nest and sitting bird to be covered with 
snow, which does not appear to affect the eggs in the least. 
Redpoll, Lesser (Page 17). — During the winter the lesser redpoll 
is one of the commonest members of the finch family, roaming about 
in large flocks, but during the breeding-season it is rather local and is 
even scarce in the south and south-west of England. It is really a 
much commoner bird than is generally supposed, on account of its 
being mistaken for the linnet. 
In appearance it is somewhat similar to the latter, but is smal'er, 
the pencilling is darker, and it has a red blaze on the forehead, and a 
black patch under the beak. The redpoll makes a delightful little 
cage-bird, being easily taught to perform tricks. 
The nest in the majority of cases is placed in the extreme top of a 
hawthorn hedge, well concealed in the smaller branches. In some 
districts, however, it prefers a small plantation, when the nest will 
be found in the fork of a tree, but is seldom more than six feet above 
the ground. The nest itself is an exquisite production, being after 
the style of the chaffinch’s, but smaller. It is built of roots, twigs 
and moss lined with down, hair and wool. Four to six small blue 
eggs are laid, which are speckled and blotched with reddish-brown 
and violet, more profusely on the larger end. 
Redshank (Page 48). — This is one of the commonest members of 
the wader family. It is to be found throughout the British Isles, 
but is most plentiful in the wild undrained fen districts. The 
numbers are considerably increased by migratory birds in hard 
weather. 
Provided with long red stilt-like legs and a long pointed beak, 
it seeks its food wading and swimming in the soft slimy mud round 
