THE RAVEN 189 



The raven, it is to be regretted, is all but 

 extinct. Now and again a tame specimen may 

 be encountered ; but these birds are now so rare 

 in this country as to hardly own a position 

 in our British avifauna. A year or two ago some 

 gipsies brought me some young kestrels, which 

 they had been told I wished for, and they 

 also had with them a tame raven. A raven is 

 always a more or less uncanny bird, but this one 

 was surpassingly so. No sooner was it inside the 

 gates than it paid a visit to every hole and corner 

 of the establishment, hopping about and croaking. 

 Not caring to risk the lives of some bantam 

 chickens, I told the owner to catch it, which he 

 eventually succeeded in doing, but not before 

 he also had inspected the premises more closely 

 than I liked. I asked them if they wished to part 

 with it, but they refused to do so, considering, I 

 imagine, that it would bring them ill-luck. 



I believe that there are so many people unable 

 to discriminate between a jackdaw, a rook, and a 

 crow, that I think it may perhaps be of service to 

 some of my readers if I here explain how they 

 may be distinguished. 



As may be seen from the above list of the 

 Corvidae, there are two varieties of crows in 

 Britain, viz. : the carrion and the hooded. Both 

 are of the same size, but whereas the former is 

 wholly black, and has bristly feathers on its 

 nostrils, the latter is conspicuous by the colour of 

 its back, which is of a dull leaden gray. 



