THE PIE KIND. Ill 



CS, and drive all other birds from their vicinity. They will not 

 peru.it 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 lit 

 tie islands among the number, which are occupied by a pair of ra 

 vens each, that drive off all other birds with great cries and impetu- 

 osity. 



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 themselves, who thought the bird omin- 

 ous, paid it, from motives of fear, the most profound veneration. One 

 of these that had been kept in the temple of Castor, as Pliny informs 

 us, flew down into the shop of a tailor, who took much delight in the 

 visits of his new acquaintance. He taught the bird several tricks ; 

 but particularly to pronounce the name of the emperor Tiberius, 

 and the whole royal family. The tailor was beginning to grow rich 

 by those who came to see this wonderful raven, till an envious neigh- 

 bour, 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 quadrupeds ; 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 quali- 

 ties that generally produce longevity, a good appetite, and great ex- 

 ercise. In clear weather, the ravens fly in pairs to a great height, ma- 

 king 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 bringing up its young. It only differs in being less 

 bold, less docile, and less favoured by mankind. 



The rook leads the way in another, but a more harmleLS 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 upper 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 leav- 

 ing it in the spring. He breeds, however, in different parts of the 

 British dominions ; and his nest is common enough in trees in Ire- 

 land. 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 being 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 01 six eggs 

 hi a season. The Cornish chough is like a jackdaw, but biggei, and 

 almost the size of a crow. The feet and legs are long, like those of 

 a jackdaw, but of a red colour, and the plumage is. black all over I. 

 frequents rocks, old castles ; and churches by ihe sea-side, like the 

 daw, and with the same noisy assiduity. It is only seen along 1 the 



