SHRIKES AND DAWS. 105 
account of the feeding of Elijah the prophet by the 
brook Cherith, is mentioned by Shakespeare :— 
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children 
The whilst their own birds famish in their nest. 
Titus Andronicus, act il. scene 2. 
In folk-lore generally, however, the bird appears in 
a far less amiable light, and is generally associated 
with deeds of darkness and the unhallowed rites 
practised by witches and their chosen followers. Ne- 
cromancers, again, were always attended by a raven, 
generally considered as the embodiment of the familiar 
spirit to whose dearly-bought assistance their magical 
powers were due. And ravens have always been 
looked upon as “unlucky” birds, the mere appear- 
ance of which boded certain ill to those whose path 
they crossed. 
Well for the raven if such superstitions had sur- 
vived for a few years longer, for the warfare against it 
would then have been less bitter, and its eviction from 
its ancient haunts less rapid. But increase of know- 
ledge and common sense, while benefiting some crea- 
tures, has injured others by dispelling the superstitious 
theories which saved them from injury ; and the raven 
is one of the latter group. 
Few of us nowadays have the good fortune to see 
the raven in its native fastnesses, but there are yet 
districts in which the bird is tolerably sure to be 
noticed, and in which it breeds year after year. The 
nest is a large and bulky structure, sometimes placed 
