CROWS. 129 



The habits of the Raven in a state of nature, 

 are so graphically described in a paper in the 

 " Zoologist," for 1843, that we shall extract it 

 almost entire. " The Raven, or as we call him 

 in Scotland, the * Corbie,' is a bold, hardy, and 

 strong-pinioned fowl. He is said to be black, 

 and so he appears at a distance, but when in- 

 spected more nearly, his feathers are found to be 

 of a glossy blue. The strength and structure of 

 his beak and talons indicate his carnivorous na- 

 ture ; and we find in the days of falconry he was 

 trained to that sport : but he does not seem to 

 have recourse to rapine and murder unless irri- 

 tated, or hard pressed by hunger, for he prefers 

 carrion just entering on a putrid state to a victim 

 recently slain. He is known throughout the Old 

 Continent from the Arctic Seas to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and in America, from Hudson's Bay 

 to Mexico.* He is seen in the remotest isles of 

 the Polar Seas, and within the Torrid zone ; and is 

 the only fowl whose character remains unchanged 

 by the extremes of heat and cold. He constantly 

 traverses the mountain-regions ; and breathing a 

 pure atmosphere, he lives to a great age, and is 

 able to make the most laborious flights from one 

 country to another. 



" The Corbie is well known to the shepherd on 

 all the hilly tracts of Scotland. His common cry 

 is croak, but when in a state of excitement he 

 utters another sound, which if I could manage to 

 express it by letters, I should spell thus whii-ur : 

 this is repeated with great rapidity, a strong accent 

 being laid on the two e-s, and the ur, or last syl- 



* The Prince of Canino, however, and some other ornithologists 

 distinguish the American Raven as the Corous catototl, WAGL. 



K 



