THE RAVEN 
CORVUS CORAX 
LocaL names in surrounding counties : 
Status 1N British Avirauna: A very local resident on 
the sea-coasts of England and Wales, becoming com- 
moner and more generally dispersed in Scotland and 
Ireland. It wanders into many districts in autumn and 
winter. 
Raprat DisTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: The Raven must formerly have been a tolerably 
common bird within the Metropolitan area, for it once 
nested regularly in Hyde Park, and imagination pictures 
the sable bird frequenting the various gibbets that in the 
good old days stood in various parts of the London suburbs. 
In more recent times we have the record of its nesting 
at Enfield, and thereare many localities inGreater London 
where the big bird found a congenial haunt. London’s 
Ravens, however, have now all passed away, and for many 
a long year the species has ceased to nest near the Metro- 
olis. It is everywhere a rare visitor, its distribution 
calling for no further notice here. If the bird ever wan- 
ders to London’s area the event can be of local interest 
only. It is said that the bird used to breed in Windsor 
Park, which is beyond our radius ; and there is no haunt 
in the vicinity of London from which wandering indivi- 
duals might possibly come. If the Raven is ever observed 
in town nowadays the probability is that it has escaped 
from captivity. 
One must go far afield nowadays to study the habits of 
the Raven in a wild state. Persecution has done its work 
only too well and banished the bird from most inland 
districts. Apart from this there is nothing which might 
have prevented the Raven from being one of London’s 
birds to-day. ‘The Carrion Crow still lives amongst us, 
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