H4 



C O R V U S. 



perched on some stone, with his tail towards you, but 

 with the head turned back, and attending with the ut- 

 most watchfulness as to whether you are or are not in 

 motion. If you make any demonstration against him, 

 he will get on the wing with much apparent pain and 

 difficulty, and seem as if he were marching off; but 

 he has a curious way of "sideling" on the wing, by 

 means of which he moves in the lateral direction, and 

 gains on you at the end of his flight, even although 

 he has seemed to be retreating all the time. If you 

 wish to watch his manoeuvres in the most perfect man- 

 ner, or to tempt him within the distance of a shot, the 

 best way is to lie down at full length on your back, 

 and remain motionless. In such a case, if he is at a 

 long distance when you take up your position, he will 

 gain considerably on the wing, by more bold and de- 

 rided flight than if you are merely sitting. But under 

 no circumstances will he use the wing for the full ex- 

 tent of his reconnoissance ; he will alight at a consi- 

 derable distance, and even if you are so motionless 

 that he feels confident of making a prey of you, he 

 will still approach you in perfect conformity with the 

 tactics of a siege, never upon the direct line, but at an 

 angle, working by traverses more and more oblique 

 as he comes nearer, so that when you observe him in 

 motion, he is always as if he were passing by and re- 

 garding you with a mixture of fear and wonder. When 

 he turns at the end of his traverse he stands for a short 

 time as if he were irresolute, and at a loss which way 

 to go, and seems studiously to avoid any appearance 

 of design in his movements. But if you remain quite 

 motionless, he will come very near ; and should you 

 allow yourself to doze during his crafty approach, the 

 chance would be that your awaking might cost you 

 an eye ; and thus it is better for you to " have an 

 eye" upon him. If you are provided with fire arms, 

 and are inclined to add the useless carcass of a raven 

 to the museum on the barn wall or the stable-yard at 

 the inn, you may, if you have patience enough, make 

 sure game of him ; but if you fire and miss him, or if 

 you start up when he is very near you, he mounts the 

 sky, soon clears your horizon, and though you wait 

 ever so long you see him no more. 



The raven, when taken young, and the young, in 

 consequence of their clamour, are easily discovered 

 and procured if the nest is accessible (and when it is 

 not, they often fall headlong and are found yelping 

 in their discordant tone among the bushes), is easily 

 tamed, and may be turned to account both as a 

 scavenger and a watchman about tan-yards and other 

 places where there is offal calculated to attract strangers. 

 When these approach, the raven "gives tongue," 

 or rather throat, and if they venture upon his ground, 

 he appears to hop away with one of his legs crippled ; 

 but, watching his opportunity, he contrives to jerk 

 himself, like a dart, at the enemy, and as his bill is 

 both strong and sharp, a blow of it will send off a 

 large cur howling. These tame ravens take fancies 

 to, and against, persons, and other animals, for which 

 it is by no means easy to account. Without any 

 apparent difference of treatment received by them- 

 selves, they will welcome one party, appear to play 

 with them, and never offer any violence ; while there 

 are others that they will strike and bite with great 

 bitterness, even when they are fondled, 



Ravens, though so voracious, that their name has 

 been generally applied to all who are greedy of food 

 or of any thing else, and not over nice as to the 

 means by which they procure it, are capable of bear- 



ing hunger for a very long time. They are so hardy 

 that even in the wildest places, and those where they 

 are most abundant, a dead raven, unless one which 

 has been killed by man, is a very rare sight. They 

 are also understood to be very long-lived, but the 

 number of years is not ascertained. They must, how- 

 ever, be subject to some casualty, as the increase in 

 numbers, in proportion to that of the eggs, is very 

 small. There are ravens in most quarters of the 

 world, if the state of the country is suitable to them, 

 and there is little climatal difference, further than that 

 those which are found in the high polar latitudes are 

 pale in the colour. 



We may farther mention as distinguishing features 

 of this species, that the tail is very much rounded ; 

 that the feathers on the throat are narrow, sharp 

 pointed, and raised ; that those on the back part of the 

 neck are soft and silky ; that the bill and feet are black, 

 and that the irides of the eyes consist of two circles 

 of colour, the outer brownish, and the inner pale 

 smoke grey. 



Corvus coronc, the carrion crow, or common black 



crow. This species is much smaller than the raven, 



being only about twenty inches in length, twenty-six in 



the extent of the wings, and eighteen ounces in weight ; 



and as birds, to be equally well winged, should have 



the wings in the proportion of the cube-roots of their 



weights, it is not, in proportion, a bird of so powerful 



flight as the raven. The plumage of this species is 



entirely black, with few or no metallic reflections, or 



with them, of a dull green colour; the feathers on the 



throat being small and narrow, and the webs, toward 



| their points, loose and flocculent ; and the tail not so 



t much rounded as that of the raven. Still, the bird 



I has more the air of the raven than that of any other 



' of the family, so that it may, except in colour, pass 



i fora miniature of that bird, with the exception of the 



I gloss of blue on the upper part of the true raven. 



The carrion crow, as its name imports, is a foul 

 and miscellaneous feeder. No garbage comes amiss 

 j to it, however rank ; and it is by no means shy in the 

 i search of the offal of all sorts. For these reasons it 

 is sometimes called the "dung-hill" crow, and, in 

 Scotland, the "midden" crow; and it is the crow, 

 throughout England. It is very generally distributed ; 

 but as the individuals are not in the habit either of 

 flocking on their pastures, or of assembling in numbers 

 to the same herding places, they do not make the 

 same appearance as some of the other members of 

 the genus. 



Carrion-crows nestle in trees, generally in more 

 retired places, and farther apart from each other than 

 rooks. They generally pass the summer in extensive 

 forests, from which they occasionally emerge to pro- 

 cure subsistence for themselves and their infant brood. 

 They feed on flesh, eggs, worms, insects, and various 

 kinds of grains; but they are particularly fond of 

 carrion. In spring, they greedily devour the eggs of 

 partriges and quails, and are so dexterous as to pierce 

 them and carry them on the point of their bill to their 

 young ; even fish and fruit are not unsuitable to their 

 palate. They often attack the eyes of dying animals, 

 destroy weakly lambs, and, when pressed with hunger, 

 will even pursue birds on the wing. They are noto- 

 rious for the havoc which they occasion among game 

 and poultry, and in rabbit warrens, where they kill 

 and devour the young. When hens lay their eggs in 

 hedge bottoms, or farm-yards, crows are often caught 

 in the act of devouring them ; but when they happen 



