1902 Some Bii'ds in Shakspeai' 279 



raven, and corvtis to the crow or rook. I will quote but one 

 case, for one has both a Latin and a Greek allusion to the 

 same phenomena. 



In the first Georgic, where Virgil is talking of signs of 

 coming rain, he says in line 381 — 



"e pastu decedens agmine magno 

 Corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis." 



And again in 410 — 



" Turn liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces 

 Aut quater ingeminant et saepe cubilibus altis 

 Nescio qua prteter solitum dulcedine lasti 

 Inter se foliis strepitant." 



Where could you find a better description of rooks going 

 home and their chatter, as they crowd in the lofty rookery ? 

 While in the meantime in line 388 we have 



" Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce 

 Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena," 



which may very well apply to a raven. The passage is an 

 adaptation from the ' Diosemeion ' of Aratus, and in that 

 we have a further touch, for he says : " Thus indeed the 

 families of rooks {K6paK€<;) and tribes of jackdaws appearing 

 in packs and uttering sounds like hawks." The presence of 

 jackdaws on the occasion precludes the possibility of Kopa^ 

 being a raven. Aratus was more of a naturalist than Virgil, 

 for he goes on to distinguish between the birds that go 

 in packs (dyeXTjBov) and the solitary bird iipr)nato<;) that 

 says Dissakis. 



But I have no right to be dabbling in the dead languages, 

 and will proceed to deal with the Raven (Corvus corax). 

 The bird gets a bad character from the theologian. His 

 behaviour on being let out of the Ark was irritating, almost 

 flippant, but one would have hoped that his feeding of 

 Elijah might have compensated for it. But this is not so ; 

 when one looks into the Targum of the Old Testament, 

 one finds that they are very severe on the Raven. They 

 interpret Psalm clxvii., " He giveth to the beast his food, 

 and to the young ravens which cry " ; and again (Job 

 xxxviii. 41), " Who provideth for the raven his food ? 



