BOOK X, XIV. 30-xv. 33 



contimies feeding its chicks for some time even when 

 they can fly ; (XV) vi^hereas all the other birds of the 

 same class drive their chicks out of the nests and 

 compel them to fly, as also do ravens. These not 

 only feed on flesh themselves too, but also drive away 

 their chicks when strong to a considerable distance. 

 Consequently in small villages there are not more 

 than two pairs of ravens, and in fact in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Crannon in Thessaly there is one pair 

 permanently in each place ; the parents retire to 

 make room for their offspring. 



There are certain points of diffei-ence between this theraven; 

 bird and the one mentioned above. Ravens breed 

 before midsummer, also they have 60 days of ill- 

 health, principally owing to thirst, before the figs 

 ripen in the autumn ; whereas the crow is seized 

 with sickness from that day onward. 



Ravens produce broods of five at most. There is a 

 popular behef that they lay eggs, or else mate, with 

 the beak (and that consequently if women with child 

 eat a raven's egg they bear the infant through the 

 mouth, and that altogether they have a difficult 

 dehvery if raven's eggs are brought into the house) ; 

 but Aristotle says that this is not true of the raven, any 

 more indeed than it is of the ibis in Egypt, but that 

 the billing in question (which is often noticed) is a 

 form of kissing, like that which takes place between 

 pigeons. Ravens seem to be the only birds that 

 have an understanding of the meanings that they 

 convey in auspices ; for when the guests of Medus 

 were murdered, all the ravens in the Peloponnese 

 and Attica flew away." It is a specially bad omen 

 when they gulp down their croak as if they were 

 choking. 



313 



