80 



THE RAVEN. 



are hatched, and fed upon meat, snails, and earth worms ; they 

 are also accustomed to eat bread and roll steeped in milk. 

 The description of food they seek, when at large, as young 

 hares, birds, eggs, mice, young geese, chickens, snails, pears, 

 cherries, &c, renders them partly injurious and partly 

 beneficial. 



This bird can be allowed to run at large, or fly about, and if 

 reared from the nest, which must be the case if he is to be 

 taught to speak, he will return to the place of feeding, upon 

 calling him Jack, the name he usually bears. All glittering 

 metal, especially gold, must be hidden from him, or he, like 

 some other bipeds, will carry it off. To facilitate his speaking, 

 or to give his tongue greater freedom, which is necessary for 

 articulate sounds, the tongue chord is sometimes loosened with 

 the view of increasing or heightening his powers of speech. 

 Individuals, however, have been heard to speak with an un- 

 loosened tongue. The raven is naturally a long-lived bird, 

 individuals having been known to live upwards of one 

 hundred years. 



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