152 HISTORY OF 



Old age, when the natural heat decays, the ^^air grows gray, 

 «nd at last white •, so among these anin^als the cold of the ch- 

 ,nate may produce a similar languishment of ?'>1«"'^'^ f"'^ "^^^ 

 shut up those pores that conveyed the tincturing fluids to the 

 extremest parts of the body. 



However this may be, white ravens are often shown among 

 us, which I have heard some say, are rendered thus by art; and 

 this we could readily suppose, if they were as easily changed in 

 their colour, as they are altered in then- habits and ^-spositions 

 A raven maybe reclaimed to almost every purpose to which 

 birds can be converted. He may be trained up for fowhng like 

 a hawk ; he may be taught to fetch and carry like a spaniel ; he 

 may be kught to speak like a parrot ; but the most extraordmary 

 of all is, that he can be taught to sing like a man. I have heard 

 a raven sing the Black Joke with great distinctness, truth, and 



^TiTeed, when the raven is taken as a domestic, he has many 

 qualities that render him extremely amusing. Busy, inquisitive. 



* A t f hP .pat of the earl of Aylesbury, in Wiltshire, a tame raven, that had 

 Tr^e When a considerable number of these were collected round h m, he 



,.„ .„a ..„ M. p';-f;:xT;LrL:.r.: r r;rr,., 



found, m the --J^' f '^ .^^^^^ ,„^^ ^„^ ,,,,, „„de himself an entrance 



