88 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



a brave soldier the Raven is ! He fights the Eagle, who 

 is four times his size." In fact, in some districts of the 

 west coast of Scotland shepherds and farmers used to 

 welcome the Corbie, enemy to their flocks as he was, 

 for it was he who drove off the hated Sea Eagle, which 

 worked so much damage among their lambs. 



The Raven has from olden times been looked upon 

 askance, as a bird of ill-omen. In the Hebrides, however, 

 it is not viewed as boding death to the household which it 

 may chance to visit. Still, it is, or was, considered un- 

 fortunate for a marriage party to sight a Corbie unless 

 it should be killed, when the ill-luck is removed and the 

 omen is even a good one. 



The propensity of the Corbie for carrying off the most 

 curious odds and ends is well known. The late Duke of 

 Argyll was watching a Raven circling overhead when he 

 saw it drop something from its bill. The object dis- 

 carded proved to be a cone from the silver fir — Abies 

 pectinata — on which was growing a parasitic plant known 

 as Phclonites strobilina. This plant has been rarely 

 found ; as a matter of fact, the British Museum was with- 

 out a specimen, so to it the cone with its parasite was 

 presented. 



What, I think, is an intensely interesting fact in the 

 history of the Raven is the use to which it was put by 

 the ancient Scandinavian mariners. When pursuing a 

 voyage of discovery, and uncertain as to their course and 

 out of sight of land, though imagining it to be near, a 

 Raven was let loose from the ship. If he left the vessel, 

 his line of flight was followed by the boat, and it was rare 

 indeed for the " dark bird " to play the mariners false, 

 for by following the direction of the pilot they were en- 

 abled to reach land and find a harbour. Sometimes, 

 however, the Raven, after a preliminary flight, returned 

 to the ship, and when this was the case, it was judged 



