223 



r.oer their quarry without the \bs.sii.pce of sight, 

 is scarcely dis*mc*:Iy anttiHaiiied, and has not yet 

 beoa the subject of direct experiment. 



COKVUS, Linrxzus. Generic character. Bill 

 strrng, oilmen elevated, bending towards 

 ihe tip, which is often obsoletely notched ; 

 nostrils oval, covered with stiff incumbent 

 leathers; wings rather long, pointed, first 

 quills to the fourth, which is longest, gradu 

 ating ; tail square or cuneated ; feet formed 

 for walking ; strong lateral toes of nearly 

 equal length ; claws strong and curved. 



Types. C. corone> comix. 



Cosmopolite. 



THE RAVEN. 



Corvus corax. LINNAEUS. 



PLATE XII. 

 Corvus corax, and Raven of ornithologists. 



THIS is the most powerful species of the group : 

 it has every member fully and strongly developed, 

 and when in full plumage is in reality a beautiful 

 and almost noble looking bird. There is, how- 

 ever, a wariness and suspicion about the expres- 

 sion, which produces an unfavourable idea, and 

 is at variance with the frank and open daring 

 seen in the carriage of many raptorial birds. 

 This seems to have been an opinion handed down 

 from antiquity, for before natural history became 

 a science, or the habits of birds were studied, 



