Q74: THE RAVEN. 
and thrice she held him to the fire, and thrice 
she rubbed him well with brimstone. 
‘«¢ Terque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat.” 
She then applied her lancet to his jugular, and 
having let out all the old man’s blood, she replaced 
it with broth made from the ingredients which 
she had stewed down for the operation. This did 
the job, and up jumped her father AZson a spruce 
dashing young fellow in the prime of life, with a 
fine black beard in lieu of a white one. N.B. From 
this operation we might surmise, that transfusion of 
blood in surgery is no modern invention. 
Pity it is that the raven, a bird of such note and 
consequence in times gone by, should be exposed to 
unrelenting persecution, in our own days of pro- 
fessed philanthropy. His noble aspect, his aerial 
evolutions, and his wonderful modulations of voice, 
all contribute to render him an ornament to any 
gentleman’s park. He can scarcely be styled a bird 
of rapine, in the strict sense of the word ; for, in the 
few inland parts of this country where he is still pro- 
tected, we hear of no very alarming acts of depreda- 
tion on his part. A stray chicken or so, during the 
time that he is obliged to feed his young,—a rickety 
lamb which would never make mutton, — a leveret 
started from her seat by the village mole-catcher, 
make up nearly the whole amount of the raven’s 
plunder. For my own part I would freely give him 
these; ay, and a dozen pheasants annually to boot, 
if he would but visit us again, and once more attempt 
to take up a permanent abode amongst us. 
