THE RAVEN. ns 



the ladder were left standing, the chough would go up it with an air of intense 

 curiosity, and hop on to the top of the wall. He would knock at the kitchen 

 door, if he was hungry, and wanted something to be given to him. And if 

 he could get his own way, nothing pleased him more than roaming all over 

 the house and getting on to the roof. He disliked children very much indeed, 

 and would hardly allow them to come into the garden. Nor would he permit 

 the least liberty to be taken with him, even by his best friends, and he used to 

 give them a severe peck on the slightest provocation. 



THE RAVEN. 



The raven is a bird that appears to know a great deal more than he chooses 

 to tell. Look how solemn he is, in his suit of jet black, and how intently 

 he seems to be thinking ; and he does think sometimes to some purpose. He 

 has many good qualities, of which we shall speak by-and-by. But I am 

 afraid at the present moment the raven in the picture has been stealing some- 

 thing, and is wondering where he can hide it. 



A raven used to hop about the bridge over the Serpentine in Hyde Park, 

 and was quite a public character. A lady once passed over the bridge, and 

 chanced to drop her golden bracelet from her arm. She turned round in a 

 great hurry to pick it up, but the raven, who was standing close by, and 

 watching all that went on, was much too quick for her. In a second he 

 had snapped it up, and had flown away with it in his bill, and was quite 

 out of sight. 



Of course, in process of time he came back, but without the bracelet ; 

 nor could any trace of it be found, hidden as it was in the retreat where the 

 raven kept his treasures. 



The raven's extreme gravity and sedateness impart to him a great deal of 

 dignity. His dress of glossy black is very handsome, and has in it a shade of 

 steel blue. He is larger than his relation the crow, and his strong beak and 

 talons make him almost equal to a bird of prey. He is very cunning and very 

 cautious. He is scarcely ever caught in a trap ; he is far too wary for that. 



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