204 OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 



Streaming from the extremity of his bill,* a natural, 

 though extraordinary phenomenon, sufficient to terrify 

 the superstitious, and to stamp the harmless subject of it 

 with the imaginary traits and attributes of a demon. 



In ancient times when divination made a part of reli- 

 gion, the Raven, though a bad prophet, was yet a very 

 interesting bird ; for the passion for prying into future 

 events, even the most dark and sorrowful, is an original 

 propensity of human nature ; accordingly, all the actions 

 of this sombre bird, all the circumstances of its flight, 

 and all the different intonations of its discordant voice, 

 of which, no less than 64 were remarked, had each of 

 them an appropriate signification ; and there were never 

 wanting impostors to procure this pretended intelligence, 

 nor people simple enough to credit it. Some even went 

 so far, as to impose upon themselves, by devouring the 

 heart and entrails of the disgusting Raven, in the strange 

 hope of thus appropriating its supposed gift of proph- 

 ecy, t 



The Raven indeed not only possesses a great niany nat- 

 ural inflections of voice, corresponding to its various feel- 

 ings, but it has also a talent for imitating the cries of 

 other animals, and even mimicking language. Accord- 

 ing to Buffbn, colas is a word which he pronounces with 

 peculiar facility. Connecting circumstances with his 

 wants, Scaliger heard one, which when hungry, learnt 

 very distinctly to call upon Conrad the cook. The first 

 of these words bears a great resemblance to one of the 

 ordinary cries of this species, Mwallah, koioallah. Be- 

 sides possessing, in some measure, the faculty of imitating 

 human speech, they are at times, capable of manifesting 

 a durable attachment to their keeper, and become famil- 



* Scala Naturalis, apud Aldrovand. torn. i. page. 704. 

 t PoRPHYR. De abslinendo ab animant. Lib. ii. 



