THE PIE KIND. 181 



the air. They build in high trees or old towers, 

 in the beginning of March with us in England, 

 and sometimes sooner, as the spring is more or 

 less advanced for the season. But it is not al- 

 ways near towns that they fix their retreats ; they 

 often build in unfrequented places, and drive all 

 other birds from their vicinity. They will not per- 

 mit even their young to keep in the same dis- 

 trict, but drive them off when they are sufficiently 

 able to shift for themselves. Martin, in his des- 

 cription of the Western Isles, avers, that there 

 are three little islands among the number, which 

 are occupied by a pair of ravens each, that drive 

 off all other birds with great cries and impe- 

 tuosity. 



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 pro- 

 phet Elijah in the wilderness. This preposses- 

 sion in favour of the raven is of a very ancient 

 date, as the Romans themselves, who thought the 

 bird ominous, 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 en- 

 vious neighbour, displeased at the tailor's sue- 



