104 CORVINE CORVUS. 



47. CORVUS CORAX. BLACK RAVEN. 



Feathers of the throat lanceolate, distinct, compact, with 

 elongated points ; tail much rounded, slightly bent up towards 

 the end ; plumage black, splendent, with purplish-blue reflec- 

 tions on the upper, and green on the lower parts. Young with 

 less gloss, but with the colours similar. 



Male, 26, 52, .., 3, 2|, 2, f. Female, 25, 49. 



The Raven is more abundant in the northern and western 

 parts of Scotland than in the southern, or in England, in many 

 parts of which it has been extirpated. Its flight is commonly 

 steady and rather slow, but it can urge its speed to a great 

 degree of rapidity. In fine weather it often soars to a vast 

 height, floating as it were over the mountain-tops. It feeds 

 on carcasses of all kinds, stranded fish, Crustacea, insects, 

 worms, small quadrupeds, young birds, grain, and other sub- 

 stances. The nest is placed on a rock or tall tree, and is com- 

 posed of twigs, grass, wool, and feathers, or other materials. 

 The eggs, from four to seven, are about two inches long, an 

 inch and four or five twelfths broad, pale green, with small 

 oblong spots and blotches of greenish-brown and grey. If 

 unmolested, they breed in the same spot year after year. 

 Should one of a pair be killed during incubation, or even after 

 the young have left the nest, the survivor soon finds a mate ; 

 which is also the case with the Carrion Crow and Hooded 

 Crow. This species is easily tamed, when it can be taught to 

 modulate its hoarse voice so as to produce some articulate 

 sounds. It is perhaps the most sagacious of all our native 

 birds. 



Raven. Crow. Corby. 



Corvus Corax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 155. Corvus Corax, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 107. Corvus Corax, the Raven, 

 MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 498. 



48. CORVUS LEUCOPH^EUS. PIED RAVEN. 



Feathers of the throat lanceolate, distinct, compact, with 

 elongated points ; tail much rounded ; bill and feet dusky ; 

 claws and tips of mandibles white ; head, throat, breast, ab- 

 domen, the greater part of the wings, some of the lower tail- 

 coverts, and part of the middle tail-feathers, white ; hind 

 neck, back, scapulars, some of the wing-coverts and seconda- 

 ries, upper tail-coverts, most of the tail-feathers, and some of 

 the elongated feathers on the fore neck, black. The bill in 

 this supposed species is larger than in the Black Raven, being 



