102 THE RAVEN. 



Notwithstanding the injury these birds do to the farmer, a popular 

 ;espect is paid to them, from their having been the birds that fed the 

 prophet Elijah in the wilderness. This prepossession in favor of the 

 Saven is of a very ancient date: the Eomans, who thought the bird 

 ominous, paid to it, from motives of fear, the most profound vene- 

 ration. 



A Raven, as Pliny informs us, that had been kept in the Temple 

 of Castor, flew down into the shop of a tailor, who was highly 

 iohghted with its visits. He taught the bird several tricks; but 

 particularly to pronounce the names of the emperor Tiberius, and of 

 che whole royal family. The tailor was beginning to grow rich by 

 those who came to see this wonderful Raven ; till an envious 

 neighbor, displeased at his success, killed the bird, and deprived the 

 tailor of all his hopes of future fortune. The Romans, however, 

 thought it necessary to take the poor tailor's part ; they accordingly 

 punished the man who offered the injury, and gave to the Raven all 

 the honors of a splendid interment. 



The female builds her nest early in the spring, in trees, and the 

 holes of rocks; in which she lays five or six bluish-green eggs, 

 spotted with brown. She sits about twenty days: during which time 

 she is constantly attended by the male, who not only furnishes her 

 with abundance of food, but also, whenever she leaves the nest, takes 

 her place. 



Of the perseverance of the Raven in the act of incubation, Mr. 

 White has related the following singular anecdote : — In the centre of 

 a grove near Selborne, there stood an oak, which, though on the 

 whole shapely and tall, bulged out into a large excrescence near the 

 middle of the stem. On this tree a pair of Ravens had fixed their 

 residence for such a series of years, that the oak was distinguished 

 by the title of "The Raventree." Many were the attempts of the 

 neighboring youths to get at this nest: the difficulty whetted their 

 inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the* arduous 

 task ; but, when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their 

 way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the boldest lads were 

 deterred, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. 

 Thus the Ravens continued to build, nest upon nest, in perfect 

 security, till the fatal day on which the wood was to be levelled. 

 This was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. 

 The saw was applied to the trunk, the wedges were inserted into the 

 opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, 

 the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam persisted in sitting. At 

 last, when it g^ive way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though 

 her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by 

 the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground. 



The Raven feeds chiefly on small animals ; and is said to destroy 

 Rabbits, young Ducks, and Chickens ; and sometimes even Lambs, 

 when they happen to be dropped in a weak state. In the northern 

 regions, it preys in concert with the White Bear, the Arctic Fox, and 

 the Eagle : it devours the eggs of other birds and eats shore-fish, 

 and shell-fish ; with the latter it soars into the air, and drops them 



