:$4 RAVENS. 



thicket, whilst the Raven, posted on the outside of the cover, 

 seized every one that came in his way ; when the dog imme- 

 diately hastened to his assistance, and by their joint efforts 

 nothing escaped On various occasions the Raven has proved 

 of more use than a ferret, and has been known to enter a barn 

 with several dogs, and enjoy the sport of rat-hunting. The 

 sagacity of these birds is certainly quite extraordinary, and 

 might almost lead us to suppose that they were gifted with 

 reasoning powers. 



It would be needless to enumerate the many instances which 

 might be mentioned. We must quote a few, commencing witli 

 one communicated by a friend. All birds, we know, have an 

 instinctive faculty of finding their way, when on the wing, to 

 certain spots they have been accustomed to frequent, in which 

 it might be supposed that eye-sight, from high elevation, might 

 materially assist them ; but in the following case it will be 

 seen that the inhabitants of the air are not in all cases indebted 

 to this sense for discovering their former abodes, but can, like 

 dogs and various other quadrupeds, and even turtles, as we 

 have before remarked, find their way by some unknown faculty 

 to places from which they have been removed. A few years 

 ago a gentleman, near Chapel-le-Frith, in Derbyshire, took a 

 young Raven from its nest, and kept it in an out-building 

 for some months ; its wings were then clipped, and it was 

 allowed to go at large. It soon became well known for 

 a mile round, regularly visiting every farmhouse within that 

 distance whenever a pig was killed, when it was always 

 rewarded with some tit-bits. After the death of its owner, 

 the Raven was given to a surgeon, resident in Stockport, 

 Cheshire, who kept it chained by the leg for about twelve 

 months ; he then gave it its liberty, and as before, it wandered 

 about near home, but not with the same success, for its thigh 

 was one day broken by some idle, thoughtless boys, who threw 

 stones at it. The fracture was reduced, the Raven recovered, 

 and then again took to rambling about for a few weeks, when 

 it disappeared altogether, and was supposed to have met with 

 an untimely end ; — when, about a fortnight after it had been 

 missed, the news arrived of its safe return to its old residence 



