THE PIE KIND. 109 



Historian in relating the actions of some noble people does not stop 

 to give the character of every private man in the army, but only of 

 euch as have been distinguished by their conduct, courage, or treach- 

 ery ; so should the historian of Nature only seize upon the most stri- 

 king objects before him ; and, having given one common account or' 

 the most remarkable, refer the peculiarities of the rest to their gene- 

 ral description. 



CHAPTER L. 



OF THE HAVEN, THE CROW, AND THEIR AFFINITIES. 



THE Raven, the Carrion-crow, and the Rook, are birds so well 

 Known, that a long description would but obscure our ideas of them. 

 The Raven is the largest of the three, and distinguished from the rest 

 not only by his size, but by his bill being somewhat more hooked than 

 that of the rest. As for the carrion-crow and the rook, they so strong- 

 ly resemble each other, both in make and size, that they are not easi 

 ly distinguished asunder. The chief difference to be found between 

 them lies in the bill of the rook, which by being frequently thrust 

 into the ground to fetch out grubs and earth-worms, is bare of feathers 

 as far as the eyes, and appears of a whitish colour. It differs also in 

 the purple splendour or gloss of its feathers, which in the carrion- 

 crow are of a more dirty black. Nor is it amiss to make these dis- 

 tinctions, as the rook has but too frequently suffered for its similitude 

 to the carrion-crow ; and thus a harmless bird, that feeds only upon 

 insects and corn, has been destroyed for another that feeds upon car- 

 rion, and is often destructive among young poultry. 



The manners of the raven and the carrion-crow are exactly simi- 

 lar ; they both feed upon carrion ; they fly only in pairs ; and will de- 

 stroy other birds if they can take them by surprise. But it is very 

 different with the rook, the daw, and the Cornish chough, which may 

 be all ranked in this order. They are sociable and harmless ; they 

 live only upon insects and grain ; arid wherever they are, instead of 

 injuring other birds, they seem sentinels for the whole feathered cre- 

 ation. It will be proper, therefore, to describe these two sorts accord- 

 ing to their respective appetites, as they have nothing in common but 

 the very strong similitude they bear to each other in their colour 

 and formation. 



The raven is a bird found in every region of the world ; strong and 

 hardy, he is uninfluenced by the changes of the weather ; and when 

 other birds seem numbed with cold, or pining with famine, the raven 

 is active and healthy, busily employed in prowling for prey, or sport- 

 ing in the coldest atmosphere. As the heats at the line do not op- 

 press him, so he bears the cold of the polar countries with equal in 

 difference. He is sometimes indeed seen milk-white ; and this ma* 



