Auk, XV, Jan., 1898. p 
The Northern Raven breeding in New England. — During a trip to 
the outer islands of Penobscot Bay, Maine, I found on June 15, 1897, a 
brood of three young Ravens ( Corvus corax princifalis), fully fledged 
and grown, in the possession of two fisherman’s boys. They were taken 
from a nest in a spruce tree on a small uninhabited island about the 
middle of May, being at that time about ready to fly. One of the old 
birds was seen hovering at a safe distance. In captivity they each had a 
wing clipped, and remained at large about the house, though one, wilder 
than the others, escaped several times to the woods. 
One of the boys conducted me to the nest. It was about twenty feet 
from the ground, two-thirds way up the tree, in a crotch close to the 
trunk, and was a great accumulation of gnarled, crooked sticks, some of 
the largest at the bottom being as thick as a man’s thumb. Some two 
feet across on top, its size was about that of the nest of the Red-tailed 
Hawk. It was deeply hollowed, profusely lined with grass and especially 
sheep’s wool, and emitted a strong, disagreeable odor. On the branches 
below were caught numerous sticks, which evidently the birds had 
dropped. A few days later I examined a nest of the Common Crow on a 
neighboring island from which the young had recently left. It was 
almost exactly like the Raven’s nest, except that smaller sticks were used, 
wool was entirely absent, and the strong odor was lacking. 
I purchased the young, and took them home with me alive. Two of 
them are still (September 10) in health ; the other died August 5 from 
some bowel trouble. Moulting was first noticed about July 20, when 
blue-black feathers began to appear in the dull brownish under parts. 
They are still moulting, the head being the part most affected. 
Their habits in captivity are not unlike those of the Common Crow, 
■especially in reference to their hiding of objects. But they manifest 
more decided carnivorous tastes, preferring flesh to everything else, and 
tearing up bodies of birds or mammals like veritable hawks. A live 
young Marsh Hawk incarcerated with them in their roomy cage was next 
day killed and entirely devoured, save the leg bones and quills. They 
are very noisy when hungry, and their harsh croaking is audible at a con- 
siderable distance. — Herbert K. Job, North Middleboro , Mass. 
