1 82 RAVENS. 



Generally speaking, they are solitary birds, the same pair 

 only remaining together ; but occasionally this is not the case, 

 particularly in the northern parts of Europe, where they are 

 more abundant, and are often seen in greater numbers. Thus, 

 in the month of June 1832, a party leaving the Bay of 

 Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, counted 

 twenty-four of these birds passing over their heads flying 

 towards the north; they were very near to each other, and 

 followed in the same way as Rooks usually do in returning to 

 their rookery ; and about a week afterwards twenty-six were 

 observed by the same party flying to the southward. There 

 is reason, however, to believe that these assemblages of Ravens 

 ought not to be admitted as proofs of their being, under any 

 circumstances or seasons of the year, really gregarious, that 

 is, naturally disposed to associate in flocks, but is rather to be 

 attributed to the attraction of distant food, which, if beyond 

 the reach of vision, they can by some unknown faculty discover 

 at great distances. It can scarcely be by scent, for in those 

 northern regions, when all is calm and quiet, and the severity 

 of frost rapidly destroys all the effluvia of dead matter, still 

 troops of Ravens, within an incredibly short time after the 

 slaughter of an animal, will be seen advancing from all points 

 to this common centre of attraction, like the Vultures of which 

 we have before spoken, though at the time not a single bird 

 was to be seen on the wing. This sagacity in discovering 

 their prey is indeed too well known in some less favoured 

 spots, where food is scarce for man, as well as beast or bird, 

 and the Raven's presence is looked upon as a perfect nuisance. 

 Thus in the Hebrides, Shetland, Faroe Islands, and Iceland, 

 they are sadly destructive. Nothing escapes them ; they watch 

 the Wild Duck to her nest, and drive her from her eggs ; they 

 pounce upon fish like Fishing Hawks j they attack the ewe 

 as well as the lamb, and fixing on a galled horse, feed on his 

 flesh even while living. It is not therefore surprising that 

 laws are made for their extirpation. Accordingly, in the 

 Faroe Islands every man who is in a condition to catch fish, 

 must deliver annually the bill of one Raven, or those of two 

 Crows, or in failure thereof, must pay a certain sum to the 



