2 THE NORTHERN RAVEN. 
Quick-sighted, cunning and audacious, this bird of sinister appearance 
has been invested by peoples of all ages with a mysterious and semi-sacred 
character. His ominous croakings were thought to have prophetic import, 
while his preternatural shrewdness has made him with many a symbol of 
divine knowledge. A less reverent age has doomed this ancient marauder to 
an over-hasty destruction. While it is true that he has robbed birds’ uests, 
fallen upon wounded sheep, and taken toll of the tender lambs since the world 
began, his services as scavenger, insect-eater, and mole-destroyer have been 
infinitely greater, and for sentimental reasons, if for no other, the world could 
ill afford to part with the bird whose sable thread has followed all the windings 
of human history. 
The Raven has more dignity, and as a species, less flexibility than the 
Crow. As a result, altho it is exceedingly wary, the relentless warfare of 
the pioneers has thrust it almost entirely out of bounds, so far as the Eastern 
United States is concerned. While Wilson reported it as common in the 
northern part of this state at the beginning of the last century, only stragglers 
from the far north are noted nowadays,—unless, indeed, it should prove to 
be found breeding in Fulton County, as has been recently asserted. In this 
case the bird should receive rigid protection. 
With the Raven's habits we cannot largely concern ourselves here. 
According to Captain Bendire (who observed a closely allied form in the 
West) “their ordinary call note is a loud Craack, craack, varied sometimes 
by a deep grunting koerr, koerr, and again by a clucking, a sort of self-satisfied 
sound, difficult to reproduce on paper, in fact they utter a variety of notes when 
at ease and undisturbed, among others a metallic sounding klunk, which seems 
to cost them considerable effort.” The Ravens do not associate very intimately 
with others of their kind, but a pair of them are mated for life. Each spring 
the birds indulge in amorous antics which are decidedly infra dig., turning 
somersaults in the air, trying to fly on their backs, etc. Unlike the Crows, 
these birds repair the same nest year after year, and their local attachments 
are very strong. In these circumstances, no doubt, is to be found one element 
of the racial weakness in the presence of oncoming civilization. On the other 
hand, Ravens attain a great age, specimens having been kept in captivity 
upwards of a hundred years. 
