242 RAVEN. 



frequent. It very rarely visits Heligoland. In Iceland and Scandi- 

 navia the bird formerly sacred to Odin is abundant, and it is said to 

 have been observed once in Spitsbergen ; while southward it is dis- 

 tributed all over Europe, especially in the wooded and mountainous 

 districts, and along the sea-coast. It inhabits the northern half of 

 Asia down to the Himalayas ; but between Palestine and the 

 Cape Verde Islands it is represented by the smaller Brown- 

 necked Raven, C. laitbrinus, or by C. affinis, which has the nasal 

 bristles pointing upwards and very long secondaries. North-western 

 Africa, the Canaries and Madeira, are inhabited by another small 

 species, C. tingitanus. In America the Raven is found across the 

 continent from the Pacific to Greenland, and southward to Guate- 

 mala, but it is local and not common to the east of the Mississippi 

 Valley. 



The nest, often built or repaired early in February, though later 

 on the fells, is generally a bulky structure when placed in a crag, 

 but when in trees it is, according to my experience, smaller and 

 more compact. The foundation is a mass of sticks, stems of 

 heather &c., while the lining is of wool, rabbit's-fur, deer's-hair and 

 other soft substances. The eggs, 3-5, rarely 6 or 7 in number, are 

 bluish-green, flecked with olive-brown, sometimes sparingly, but at 

 other times so thickly as to produce an almost uniform ash-brown 

 appearance ; exceptionally they are reddish-white, blotched with 

 rufous-brown: average measurements 1-9 by i"32 in. In defence 

 of its nest the Raven is very bold, attacking even an Eagle ; while 

 its harsh, defiant, barking whow, whozv, when once heard, will never 

 be forgotten. It has, however, softer and more musical notes, 

 generally uttered early in the year, while the bird is performing 

 aerial evolutions and frequent somersaults ; and its imitative and 

 linguistic powers in confinement are well known. There is a bold 

 sweep in its flight unrivalled by that of any other Corvine bird. In 

 its food it is omnivorous ; and where it is persecuted on account of its 

 supposed depredations among lambs and game it is shy and difficult 

 of approach ; but in other places it is very tame, and in Majorca I have 

 seen pairs following the peasants, like Rooks, when the ground under 

 the olive-trees was being ploughed. It is a great destroyer of rats. 



The plumage of the adult is black, glossed with purplish-blue 

 on the upper parts and the acuminate feathers of the throat ; tail 

 slightly rounded; bill, legs and feet black. Length about 25 in. ; 

 wing 17 in. The female is slightly smaller than the male, the 

 feathers on the throat are less developed, and her plumage, like that 

 of the young, is less lustrous. 



