The Breeding Habits of the Northern Raven in Pennsylvania

Abstract

BORDERING on extinction as a Pennsylvania bird, a few widelv scattered pairs of Northern Ravens still exist in the mountains of Snyder, Mifflin, Center, Blair, Clinton, Union, Juniata, Lycoming and Huntingdon Counties (definite breeding records.) It is highly probable that a few still linger in the wildest sections of Luzerne, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Wyoming, Sullivan, Bedford and Fulton Counties. I have obtained reliable information of the breeding of these birds in Wyoming and Sullivan Counties during the last ten years and have seen birds taken there, while on April 18, 1919, I saw an adult bird with food in its beak and closely pursued by Crows in Luzerne County. It is probable that there are more pairs left in Center County than elsewhere within the state with Huntingdon, Mifflin and Clinton Counties following closely. As late as 1900 it was still a fairly common breeding bird in many of the counties named but the decrease during the last ten years has been very marked and unless rigid steps are taken for its preservaton, it will be but a very few years before it follows the Wild Pigeon into the list of extinct Pennsylvania species. The Raven is naturally a very shy species and will not stand the encroachment of civilization and in a number of instances I have known them to leave nests which had been used for generations, as soon as heavy lumbering took place in close proximity to them. In 1917 out of five previously used nests, only one