96 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Perseverance in the act of incubation. 



his success, killed the bird, and deprived the 

 teiylor of all his hopes of future fortune. The 

 Romans, however, thought it necessary to take 

 the poor taylor's part; they accordingly punished 

 the man who offered the injury, and gave the 

 deceased bird a magnificent interment. 



The female builds her nest early in the spring, 

 in trees and the holes of rocks; in which she 

 lays five or six eggs of a bluish green, spotted 

 with brown. She sits about twenty days; during 

 which time she is constantly attended by the 

 male, who not only provides her with abundance 

 of food, but, whenever she leaves the nest, lakes 

 her place. 



The following singular anecdote, related by 

 Mr. White, will fully illustrate the perseverance 

 of the raven in the act of incubation : In the 

 centre of a grove near Selborne, there stood an 

 oak, which, though shapely and tall on the 

 whole, bulged out into a large excrescence near 

 the middle of the trunk. On this tree a pair of 

 ravens had fixed their residence for such a series 

 of years, that the oak was distinguished by the 

 title of " Raven-tree." (See the annexed Engrav- 

 ing,) Many were the attempts of the neigh- 

 bouring youths to get at it: the difficulty served 

 but to excite their inclinations, and each was 

 ambitious of surmounting the arduous task ; but 

 when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out 

 so in their way, and was so far beyond their 

 grasp, that the boldest lads were deterred, and, 

 6 





