34 RAVEN. 
The note is, as is so well known, a harsh croak, or rather 
‘craugh, which word it resembles, and is doubtless the origin 
of. It has also a different sound, uttered when manceuvering 
in the air; and others rendered by ‘clung,’ ‘clong,’ or ‘cung,’ 
and ‘whii-ur.’ 
Nidification commences early, even in the coldest climates; 
here sometimes so soon as January, and the eggs have been 
taken in the middle of February. Incubation lasts about 
twenty days: the male and female both sit, and the former 
feeds and attends upon the latter. 
The nest, which is large, and composed of sticks, cemented 
together with mud, and lined with roots, wool, fur, and such 
materials, is placed in various situations—in the clefts of the 
branches of tall trees, church towers, caves, cliffs, and precipices. 
The mausoleum in the park of Castle Howard, the seat of 
Lord Carlisle, in Yorkshire, is still resorted to for the purpose. 
The eggs are four or five, six or seven, in number, of a 
bluish green colour, blotted with stains of a darker shade, or 
brown. The young are generally fledged about the end of 
March, or beginning of April. 
Male; weight, about two pounds seven ounces; length, about 
two feet two inches; bill, black; iris, grey, with an outer circle 
of brown; bristles extend over more than half the bill. The 
whole plumage is black, glossed on the upper part with blue. 
The wings extend to the width of four feet four inches; the 
first feather is short, the fourth the longest, the third and 
fifth nearly as long, and longer than the second. The tail 
consists of twelve feathers, rounded at the ends, and slightly 
bent upwards; legs and toes, black and plated. Claws, black 
and much curved. 
Pied varieties occasionally have occurred, and one has been 
seen entirely white. 
