514 



A HISTORY OF 



otherwise putrefy and infect the air. They 

 build in high trees or old towers, in the be- 

 ginning of March with us in England, and 

 sometimes sooner, as the spring is more or 

 less advanced for the season. But it is not 

 always near towns that they fix their retreats; 

 they often build in unfrequented places, and 

 drive all other birds from their vicinity. 

 They will not permit even their young to 

 keep in the same district, but drive them off" 

 when they are sufficiently able to shift for 

 themselves. Martin, in his description of the 

 Western Isles, avers, that there are three 

 little islands among the number, which are 

 occupied by a pair of ravens each, that drive 

 off all other birds with great cries and impe- 

 tuosity. 



Notwithstanding the injury these birds do 

 in picking out the eyes of sheep and lambs, 

 when they find them sick and helpless, a 

 vulgar respect is paid them, as being the birds 

 that fed the prophet Elijah in the wilderness. 

 This prepossession in favour of the raven is 

 of very ancient date, as the Romans them- 

 selves, who thought the bird ominous, paid it, 

 from motives of fear, the most profound vene- 

 ration. One of these that had been kept in 

 the temple of Castor, as Pliny informs u-. 

 flew down into the shop of a tailor, who took 

 much delight in the visits of his new acquaint- 

 ance. He taught the bird several tricks; but 

 particularly to pronounce the names of the 

 emperor Tiberius, and the whole royal fami- 

 ly. The tailor was beginning to grow rich 

 by those who came to see this wonderful raven, 

 till an envious neighbour, displeased at the 

 tailor's success, killed the bird, and deprived 

 the tailor of his future hopes of fortune. The 

 Romans, however, took the poor tailor's part; 

 they punished the man who offered the injury, 

 and gave the raven all the honours of a 

 magnificent interment. 



Birds in general live longer than quadru- 

 peds ; and the raven is said to be one of the 

 most long-lived of the number. Hesiod asserts 

 that a raven will live nine times as long as a 

 man ; but though this is fabulous, it is certain 

 that some of them have been known to live 

 near a hundred years. This animal seems 

 possessed of those qualities that generally 

 produce longevity, a good appetite, and 

 great exercise. In clear weather, the ravens 



fly in pairs to a great height, making a deep 

 loud noise, different from that of their usual 

 croaking. 



The carrion-crow resembles the raven in 

 its appetites, its laying, and manner of bring- 

 ing up its young. It only differs in being lesa 

 bold, less docile, and less favoured by man- 

 kind. 



The rook leads the way in another, but a 

 more harmless train, that have no carnivorous 

 appetites, but only feed upon insects and corn. 

 The Royston crow is about the size of the 

 two former. The breast, belly, back, and up- 

 per part of the neck, being of a pale ash- 

 colour; the head and wings glossed over with 

 a fine blue. He is a bird of passage, visiting 

 this kingdom in the beginning of winter, and 

 leaving it in the spring. He breed-, how- 

 ever, in different parts of the British domin- 

 ions ; and his nest is common enough in trees 

 in Ireland. The jackdaw is black, like all 

 the former, but ash-coloured on the breast 

 and belly. He is not above the size of a 

 pigeon. He is docile and loquacious. His 

 head is large for the size of his body, which, 

 as has been remarked, argues him ingenious 

 and crafty. He builds in steeples, old castles, 

 and high rocks, laying five or six eggs n> a 

 season. The Cornish chough is like a jack- 

 daw, but bigger, and almost the size of a crow. 

 The bill, feet, and legs, are long like those 

 of a jackdaw, but of a red colour; and the 

 plumage is black all over. It frequents rocks, 

 old castles, and churches by the sea-side, like 

 the daw ; and w th the same noisy assiduity, 

 ft is only seen along the western coasts of 

 England. These are birds very similar in 

 their manners, feeding on grain and insects, 

 living in society, and often suffering general 

 castigntion from the flock for the good of the 

 community. 



The rook, as is well known, builds in 

 woods and forests in the neighbourhood of 

 man, and sometimes makes choice of groves 

 in the very midst of cities for the place of its 

 retreat and security. In these it establishes 

 a kind of legal constitution, by which all 

 intruders are excluded from coming to live 

 among them, and none suffered to build but 

 acknowledged natives of the place. I have 

 often amused myself with observing their 

 plan of policy from my window in the Temple, 



