188 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



the word raven, to plunder or devour voraciously. The name 

 appears in Turner (1544), also Merrett and all later writers. 

 Turner states that " in places wdth less space, and where 

 there is not room for many, Ravens dwell only in pairs, 

 and, when their j^oung have just gained power of flight, 

 the parents first banish them from the nest, and later 

 drive them out of the whole neighbourhood." Willughby 

 states, on hearsay, that the Raven was formerly capable 

 of being " reclaimed and trained up for fowling after the 

 manner of a hawk." Kay, or Caius, also says that he saw 

 in the year 1548, two white ravens from the same nest in 

 Cumberland, which were trained for bird-catching just like 

 hawks. The Raven was a sacred bird of the Druids. 

 O'Curry (" Manners and Customs of Ancient Irish ") has 

 found that it was domesticated on account of the auguries to 

 be obtained from its croakings. The same belief in its gift 

 of prophecy prevails among the Icelanders. It is also 

 well known as an old Anglo-Saxon emblem. The Raven 

 is a familiar bird in the Norse mythology, as Woden's bird : 

 two Ravens, one black and one white, sit upon his shoulders 

 and tell him all that passes in the world below. In the 

 Welsh " Mabinogion " the hero Owein, son of Urien, is 

 accompanied by an army of Ravens, which attack his 

 enemies. In the Irish legend also Cuchullaind had two 

 magic Ravens which announced to him the coming of his 

 foes. It was by the means of this bird that Flokki, in the 

 Norse saga, discovered Iceland. There is a belief among 

 the Cornish fishermen that King Arthur is still living in 

 the form of a Raven, changed by magic into that shape, 

 and that he \\dll some day resume his own form (" Notes and 

 Queries," ser. i, viii). Hawker (" Echoes from Cornwall ") 

 has, however, fastened the same belief upon the Chough. 

 An ancient superstition was that the Raven neglected her 

 young after they were hatched. According to Glanville 

 (" De Proprietatibus Rerum," 1483) the young are fed with 

 the " dew of heaven " until they are fledged and have 

 black feathers. Izaak Walton says that the Raven " leaves 

 her yoimg ones to the care of the God of nature, who is 

 said in the Psalms (cxLvn, 9) to feed the young ravens 

 that call upon Him ; and they be kept alive and fed 

 by a dew or worms that breed in their nests ; or some 

 other ways that we mortals know not." Shakespeare 

 (" Titus Andronicus," act ii, sc. 3) alludes to this when he 

 says : — 



Some say that ravens foster forlorn children. 

 The whilst their own birds famish in their nests. 



