RAVENS. 185 



feathers get soaked, he can no longer defend himself, and 

 perishes. 



Young Ravens, it is well known, may be easily tamed ; 

 but they are so cunning and mischievous, that it is necessary 

 for those who harbour them to keep a constant watch on 

 their motions, for they will catch up anything that is glit- 

 tering, and carry it off to some secret hiding-place. Stories 

 without end might be told of their thieving propensities* 

 Let one suffice : a gentleman's butler having missed a great 

 many silver spoons and other articles, without a suspicion 

 as to who might be the thief, at last observed a tame Raven 

 with one in his mouth, and watching him to his hiding- 

 place, discovered more than a dozen. But pilferers as they 

 are, and inclined to mischief, they have redeeming good 

 qualities, which often make them deservedly great favourites, 

 and they may be sometimes trained for useful purposes. 



Thus the landlord of an inn, in Cambridgeshire, was in 

 possession of a Raven which frequently went hunting with a 

 dog that had been bred up with him. On their arrival at 

 a cover, the dog entered, and drove the hares and rabbits 

 from the thicket, whilst the Raven, posted on the outside 

 of the cover, seized every one that came in his way; when 

 the dog immediately hastened to his assistance, and by their 

 joint efforts nothing escaped. On various occasions the 

 Raven has proved of more use than a ferret, and has been 

 known to enter a barn with several dogs, and enjoy the sport 

 of rat-hunting. The sagacity of these birds is certainly quite 

 extraordinary, and might almost lead us to suppose that they 

 were gifted with reasoning powers. 



It would be needless to enumerate the many instances 

 which might be mentioned. We must quote a few, com- 

 mencing with one communicated by a friend. All birds, we 

 know, have an instinctive faculty of finding their way, when 

 on the wing, to certain spots they have been accustomed to 

 frequent, in which it might be supposed that eye-sight, from 

 high elevation, might materially assist them; but in the 

 following case it will be seen, that the inhabitants of the air 

 are not in all cases indebted to this sense for discovering their 



