THE RAVENS. 7 



municipality to shoot them down, though one would have 

 fancied that the constant firing of a gun in a public 

 thoroughfare would prove a greater nuisance than the " cawing " 

 of the birds themselves. 



Nest. A stout and compact structure composed of turf and 

 twigs, the inside consisting of roots and straws, and the whole 

 nest being not unlike a huge Blackbird's ; it is by no 

 means untidy, and is much more neatly finished than could te 

 believed from the ragged appearance which the nests present 

 in a rookery, when viewed from below. 



Eggs. Three to five in number, the ground-colour being 

 green or bluish green, sometimes nearly white. The markings 

 consist of spots and blotches of greenish brown, with darker 

 spots of bluer or blackish brown. Axis, 1*4-1 '65; diam., 

 n-i-2. 



THE RAVENS. GENUS CORVUS. 



CorvuSy Linn., Syst. Nat, i., p. 155 (1766). 



Type. C. corax (Linn.). 



The nostrils always hidden by bristly feathers. Bill very 

 stout and equal in length to the head. First primary . quill 

 long, equalling, or even exceeding, the innermost secondaries 

 in length. 



The Ravens are spread over the greater part of the Northern 

 Regions of both hemispheres, /.*., the Palaearctic and Nearctic 

 Regions. They are birds which vary much in size, and many 

 ornithologists believe in several races of the common Raven ; 

 but, after the examination of a large series of specimens in the 

 British Museum, we cannot allow that more than one form of 

 Corvus corax exists, the most recognisable of the races being 

 the Thibetan Raven (Corvus thibetanus of Hodgson), which 

 has longer hackles on the throat. A desert form, Corvus 

 umbrinus, inhabits Egypt and Syria, and extends to Persia, 

 Afghanistan, and North-western India, while a third Raven 

 (C. tingitanus) inhabits Morocco and the Canary Islands. 

 Australia possesses one species of true Raven, and Africa 

 has two. 



