258 REMIXISCEXCES OF A SPOKTSMAX. 



G-reenland and Iceland in the holes of rocks, composing 

 their nests of roots, twigs, and bones, and lining them 

 with hair, moss, &c. Their flesh is eaten in Greenland 

 by the natives, who use their skins as a warm imder- 

 clothing. A remarkable instance of the raven in the act 

 of incubation has been related by Mr. White. " In a 

 grove near Selborne stood an oak, which though tall and 

 shapely on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence 

 about the middle of the stem ; on this tree a pair of 

 ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years, 

 that the oak was distinguished by the title of ' the raven 

 tree.' Many were the attempts of the neighbouring 

 youths, and each was ambitious to get at the eyry ; but 

 when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out in their 

 way, and was so far beyond their grasp that the most 

 daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertak- 

 ing to be too hazardous. The ravens built on, nest upon 

 nest in perfect security, till the fatal day came in which 

 the wood was to be levelled. This was in the month of 

 February, when the birds usually sit. The saw was ap- 

 plied to the butt, the wedges were inserted in the open- 

 ing, the wood echoed to the heavy blows of the mallet, 

 the tree nodded to its fall, but still the raven sat on. 

 At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her 

 nest, and though her parental affection deserved a better 

 fate, was whipped down by the twigs which brought her 

 dead to the ground." 



The raven is considered a bird of ill omen, particularly 

 by the lower classes, and I have heard that some game- 

 keepers would on no account shoot a raven, expecting that 

 in the performance of this act the barrels of his gun would 

 burst, and do serious injury to his hands, or that some 

 misfortune would befall his family or connexions. 



