THE RAVEN 



CORPUS CORAX 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A very local resident on 

 the sea-coasts of England and Wales, becoming com- 

 moner and more generally dispersed in Scotland and 

 Ireland. It wanders into many districts in autumn and 

 winter. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Raven must formerly have been a tolerably 

 common bird within the Metropolitan area, for it once 

 nested regularly in Hyde Park, and imagination pictures 

 the sable bird frequenting the various gibbets that in the 

 good old days stood in various parts of the London suburbs. 

 In more recent times we have the record of its nesting 

 at Enfield, and there are many localities in Greater London 

 where the big bird found a congenial haunt. London's 

 Ravens, however, have now all passed away, and for many 

 a long year the species has ceased to nest near the Metro- 

 polis. It is everywhere a rare visitor, its distribution 

 calling for no further notice here. If the bird ever wan- 

 ders to London's area the event can be of local interest 

 only. It is said that the bird used to breed in Windsor 

 Park, which is beyond our radius ; and there is no haunt 

 in the vicinity of London from which wandering indivi- 

 duals might possibly come. If the Raven is ever observed 

 in town nowadays the probability is that it has escaped 

 from captivity. 



One must go far afield nowadays to study the habits of 

 the Raven in a wild state. Persecution has done its work 

 only too well and banished the bird from most inland 

 districts. Apart from this there is nothing which might 

 have prevented the Raven from being one of London's 

 birds to-day. The Carrion Crow still lives amongst us, 



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