474 AVES— RAVEN. 



goes every where, affronts and drives off the dogs, plays his pranks on the 

 poultry, and is particularly assiduous in cultivating the good-will of the 

 cook maid, who seems to be the favorite of the family. But then, with the 

 amusing qualities of a favorite, he often also has the vices and defects. He 

 is a glutton by naturo, and a thief by habit. He does not confine himself to 

 petty depredations on the pantry or the larder; he soars at more magnificent 

 plunder ; at spoils which he can neither exhibit nor enjoy ; but which, like 

 a miser, he rests satisfied with having the satisfaction of sometimes visiting 

 and contemplating in secret. A piece of money, a tea-spoon, or a ring, are 

 always tempting baits to his avarice; these he will slily seize upon, and, if 

 not watched, will carry to his favorite hole. 



In his Avild state, the raven is an active and greedy plunderer. Nothing 

 comes amiss to him. If in his flights he perceives no hope of carrion, (and 

 his scent is so exquisite, that he can smell it a vast distance,) he then con- 

 tents himself with more unsavory food, fruits, insects, and the accidental 

 desserts of a dunghill. This bird chiefly builds its nest in trees, and lays 

 five or six eggs of a pale green color, marked with small brownish spots. 



Notwithstanding the injury these birds do in picking out the eyes of sheep 

 and lambs, when they find them sick and helpless, a vulgar respect is paid 

 for them as being the birds that fed the prophet Elijah in the wilderness. 

 This prepossession in favor of the raven is of very ancient date, as the 

 Romans themselves, who thought the bird ominous, paid it, from motives 

 of fear, the most profound veneration. One of these that had been kept in 

 the temple of Castor, as Pliny informs us, flew down into the shop of a 

 tailor, who took much delight in the visits of his new acquaintance. He 



