CROWS 



Of the nine British members of this remarkable 

 group, two, at least, the Chough and the Raven, 

 cannot now be described as tree-haunting birds. 

 True, the Raven occasionally builds in the fork of 

 some tall tree, the great mass of sticks of which the 

 nest is composed growing annuallv larger, as in 

 each recurring January the parents repair the home 

 for the reception of the season's eggs; but, for the 

 most part, the birds resort in the breeding time to 

 the sea-cliffs or to the precipitous side of some rocky 

 mountain. Much has been written of the Raven. 

 In poetry and tradition he appears always as a bird 

 of ill-omen, his croak presaging death and general 

 disaster. Many times have his habits been 

 described ; his practice of nesting when the moun- 

 tain slopes are still covered with snow; his strange 

 aerial gambols and the ferocity with which he W'ill 

 attack the sheep " cast " on the hillside. For, like 

 others of his kin, he is a born misdemeanant. With 

 great natural abilities, he could easily gain an 

 honest livelihood, but even in captivity with ample 

 stores provided, he prefers a path of crime. Dickens 

 describes a tame Raven, the famous original of the 

 weird bird in Barnahy Rudge. 



" He had, from the first, as Sir Hugh Evans said 

 of Anne Pag^e, ' good gifts,' which he improved 

 i.S 193 



