NATURAL HISTORY. 241 



And the hoarse raven on the blasted bough, 



By croaking from the left presaged the coming blow." DRYDEN. 



731. The raven, though not very numerous in any place, and though dwelling in 

 solitude, pairing for life, and not very prolific, is one of the most generally dis- 

 tributed of birds. Almost every other species has some country which it can claim 

 to a considerable extent as its own ; and even though it is migrant, and passes the 

 different seasons in places some thousands of miles asunder, it returns with the 

 season, not only to the same latitude, and to the same land, but often to the very 

 same spot. The raven is no migrant, except in shifting a little with the seasons, as 

 the supply of food varies, but never quitting the same district ; and yet there is no 

 country in which the raven is not found native. The margin of the desert, of the 

 jungle, or of the forest, in the hottest climates, the heights of alternate cliff and 

 eopse in temperate climates, or the rocks and heaths, and even the lichen-clad 

 margins of the inhabited regions near the poles, are all equally the abode of the 

 raven. Let the sun blaze, the wind blow, the rain pelt, or the snow drive, with 

 ever so much intensity, his dusky wing, or firmly-set foot, is in its element, and tho 

 wreck of nature to others proves to him a season of plenty. 



732. Why is the raven termed the "herald of the year?" 



Because, as early as the latter part of January, if the weather be 

 mild, these birds may be seen on the alert, looking into tfw state of 

 their nests, and making other preparations for the spring. 



733. Why is the raven commonly associated with sickness, 

 misfortune, and other human ills? 



Because his black plumage, discordant croaking cry, and wild 

 and funeral aspect, favour the superstitious feelings which arise 

 amongst ignorant persons. 



734. It is said that the southern aborigines invoke the raven for those who are 

 sick, mimicking his voice ; and the natives of Missouri, assuming black as their 

 emblem of war, decorate themselves on those occasions with the plumes of this 

 dark bird. But all the knowledge of the future, or interest in destiny, possessed by 

 the raven, like that of other inhabitants of the air, is bounded by an instinctive 

 feeling of the changes which are about to happen in the atmosphere, and which he 

 has the faculty of announcing by certain cries and actions produced by these 

 external impressions. In the southern provinces of Sweden, as Linneus remarks, 

 when the sky is serene, the raven flies very high, and utters a hollow sound, like 

 the word clong, which is heard at a distance. Sometimes he has been seen in the 

 midst of a thunder-storm, amid electric fires which appeared to stream from his 

 bill a natural, though extraordinary phenomenon, sufficient to terrify the super- 

 stitious, and to stamp the harmless subject of it with the imaginary traits and 

 attributes of a demon. 



11 



