RAVENS, CURLEWS, AND EIDER-DUCKS 135 



whole feather itself. I tried to imagine the effect 

 of a number of these sombre, quickly-beating pinions 

 with the short eager croak, having something of a 

 bellowing tone in it ( " the croaking raven doth 

 bellow for revenge " ) over the wide-extended carnage 



Raven : The Game of Revtrsi 



of an ancient battlefield, and I thought I could do 

 it pretty well in spite of the difficulty, in the present 

 day, of conjuring up such scenes. 



But, though the ordinary flight of ravens be as I 

 have described, it does not at all. follow that they 

 may not sometimes soar or sail for long distances 

 through the air, or descend through it at great speed, 

 and with all sorts of whirring and whizzing evolutions. 



