cmd Ornithological Biography. 139 



the northern regions. At length the young burst the shell, when the careful 

 parents, after congratulating each other on the happy event, disgorge some 

 half-macerated food, which they deposit in their tender mouths. Should the 

 most daring adventurer of the air approach, he is attacked with fury and re- 

 pelled. As the young grow up, they are urged to be careful and silent : — a 

 single false movement might precipitate them into the abyss below ; a single 

 cry during the absence of their parents might bring upon them the remorse- 

 less claws of the swift Peregrine or Jerfalcon. The old birds themselves seem 

 to improve in care, diligence, and activity, varying their course when return- 

 ing to their home, and often entering it when unexpected. The young are 

 now seen to stand on the edge of the nest ; they flap their wings, and at length 

 take courage and fly to some more commodious and not distant lodgment. 

 Gradually they become able to follow their parents abroad, and at length 

 search for maintenance in their company, and that of others, until the period 

 of breeding arrives, when they separate in pairs, and disperse. 



" Notwithstanding aU the care of the Raven, his nest is invaded wherever 

 it is found. His usefulness is forgotten, his faults are remembered and mul- 

 tiplied by imagination ; and whenever he presents himself he is shot at, be- 

 cause from time immemorial ignorance, prejudice, and destructiveness have 

 operated on the mind of man to his detriment. Men will peril their lives to 

 reach his nest, assisted by ropes and poles, alleging merely that he has killed 

 one of their numerous sheep or lambs. Some say they destroy the Raven be- 

 cause he is black ; others, because his croaking is unpleasant and ominous ! 

 Unfortutiate truly are the young ones that are carried home to become the 

 wretched pets of some ill-b rough t-up child ! For my part, I admire the 

 Raven, because I see much in him calculated to excite our wonder. It is 

 true that he may sometimes hasten the death of a half-starved sheep, or destroy 

 a weakly lamb ; he may eat the eggs of other birils, or occasionally steal from 

 the farmer some of those which he calls his own ; young fowls also afford pre- 

 cious morsels to himself and his progeny ; — but how many sheep, lambs, and 

 fowls, are saved through his agency I The more intelligent of our farmers 

 are well aware that the Raven destroys numberless insects, grubs, and worms ; 

 that he kills mice, moles, and rats, whenever he can find them ; that he will 

 seize the weasel, the young opossum, and the skunk ; that, with the perseve- 

 rance of a cat, he will watch the burrows of foxes, and pounce on the cubs ; 

 our farmers also are fully aware that he apprises them of the wolf's prow, 

 lings around their yard, and that he never intrudes on their corn-fields except 

 to benefit them ; yes, good reader, the farmer knows aU this well, but he also 

 knows his power, and, interfere as you may, with tale of pity or of truth, the 

 bird is a Raven, and, as Lafontaine has aptly and most truly said, '■ La loi 

 du plus fort est toujours la meilleure !" 



" 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 at a time ; and although it cannot be called swift, 

 it propels itself with sufficient power to enable it to contend with different spe- 

 cies 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. 



