THE RAVEN. 47 
sojourn by the brook Cherith, but the coincidence is 
certainly curious and interesting. 
“In the United States the Raven is in some meas- 
ure a migratory bird, individuals retiring to the ex- 
treme south during severe winters, but returning 
toward the Middle, Western, and Northern Districts 
at the first indications of milder weather. A few 
are known to breed in the mountainous portions of 
South Carolina, but instances of this kind are rare, 
and are occasioned merely by the security afforded 
by inaccessible precipices, in which they may rear 
their young. Their usual places of resort are the 
mountains, the abrupt banks of rivers, the rocky 
shores of lakes, and the cliffs of thinly peopled or 
deserted islands. It is in such places that these birds 
must be watched and examined, before one can judge 
of their natural habits, as manifested amid their free- 
dom from the dread of their most dangerous enemy, 
the lord of creation. 
“The flight of the Raven is powerful, even, and 
at certain periods greatly protracted. During calm 
and fair weather it often ascends to an immense height, 
sailing there for hours ata time; and although it 
_ cannot be called swift, it propels itself with sufficient 
power to enable it to contend with different species 
of Hawks, and even with Eagles when attacked by 
them. It manages to guide its course through the 
thickest fogs of the countries of the north, and is 
able to travel over immense tracts of land or water 
without rest.” * 
* Audubon. 
