ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



THE RAVEN. CORVUS CORAX. 

 (Plate I.) 



Corvus corax, Linn., S. N., i., p. 155 (1766); Macg., Br. B., 

 i., p. 498 ; Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B., ii., p. 259 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus., iii., p. 14 ; Dresser, B. Eur., iv., p. 

 567, pi. 265 ; Seeb., Br. B., ii., p. 532, pi. 16, figs, i, 3 ; 

 Saunders, Man., p. 233; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. 

 x. (1889). 



Adult Male Of large size. Plumage black, with purplish 

 gloss, greenish on the wings and tail ; on the fore-neck some 

 long lanceolate feathers, forming throat-hackles ; bill and legs 

 black ; iris brown. Total length, 24 inches ; bill from front, 

 3-15; wing, 17-5; tail, 10-5; tarsus, 2-85. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male in plumage, and not 

 inferior in size. 



Range in Great Britain. Local, and diminishing in numbers. 

 A few pair* are still to be found in the southern counties, but 

 it is only in the wilder parts of the north and west that the 

 Raven now occurs regularly. 



Range outside the British Islands. Throughout the whole of 

 the northern portions of the Old and New Worlds, in America 

 from the high north to Mexico and Guatemala, and in the Old 

 World to the North Mediterranean countries. Further east 

 it reaches to the line of the Himalayas, and is found in 

 North-western India, and extends through Central Asia and 

 Siberia. 



Habits. Owing to continued persecution, the Raven is 

 becoming rarer year by year throughout the British Islands. 

 Its large size and undoubted power render it a formidable 

 enemy to farmers, and although, like all members of the 

 Coi'vidce, the Raven is an omnivorous feeder, it is well 

 known as a slaughterer of lambs, fawns, and poultry, whenever 

 it gets the chance ; but on the other hand it destroys 

 numbers of rats and other vermin, and it also clears up 

 carrion. In other countries, where it is not so persecuted, the 

 bird is much tamer, and Mr. Howard Saunders says that in 

 Majorca he has seen a pair of Ravens following the plough 



