"THE RAVEN IN 1 WEST."
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPEarAros."3 612,—May I express pleasure in your recent article on " The Raven in the. West "P Mr. Baring Gould is correct in saying that such birds, or our buzzard, will attack the young of domestic animals, as lambs, pigs, kids, and ealves.shortly after birth, when such young are not free from the odour or filth of its recent birth and have not acquired the power of locomotion. Otherwise, these birds have not been knows. to molest young animate in this section.
May I say of the habit of nesting that a pair will return early in each year to the same place and rear two young birds, the nest being in a hollow tree or stump thereof, or beside or under the trunk of a fallen tree in some woods or forest? I believe it is further important to state that it is no longer a mooted question, but is established on authority, that the buzzard will carry the infection of hog cholera, the disease known as anthrax, and possibly some types of septicaemia, but does not carry such diseases as cattle tick fever. The method by which cholera and anthrax is carried by them is on their fret andpossibly in their feed. It may be an important question for your agricultural and, steck-rearing communities to decide whether the same infection- is carried by the species of your
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