J51, ' HISTORY or 



>^ot\vithstanding the injui-y these birds do in picking out the 

 eyes of sheep and lambs, when they find them sick and helpless*, 

 a vulgar respect is paid them, as being the birds that fed the 

 prophet Elijah in the wilderness. This prepossession in favour 

 of the raven is of very ancient date, as the Romans themselves, 

 who thought the bird ominous, paid it, from motives of fear, the 

 most profound veneration. One of these that had been kept in 

 the temple of Castor, as Pliny informs us, flew do\vn into the 

 Bhop of a tailor, who took much delight in the visits of his new 

 acquaintance. He taught the bird several tricks ; but particu- 

 larly to pronounce the names of the emperor Tiberius, and the 

 whole royal family. The tailor was beginning to grow rich by 

 those who came to see this wonderful raven, till an envious 

 neighbour, displeased at the tailor's success, killed the bird, and 

 deprived the tailor of his future hopes of fortune. The Romans, 

 however, took the poor tailor's part ; they punished the man 

 who offered the injury, and gave the raven all the honours of a 

 magnificent interment. 



Birds in general live longer than quadrupeds ; and the raven is 

 said to be one of the most long-lived of the number. Hesiod as- 

 serts, that a raven will Uve nine times as long as a man ; but 

 though this is fabulous, it is certain that some of them have 

 been known to live near a hundred years. This animal seems 

 possessed of those qualities that generally produce longevity, a 

 good appetite, and great exercise. In clear weather, the ravens 

 fly in pairs to a great height, making a deep loud noise, different 

 from that of their usual croaking. 



The carrion-crow resembles the raven in its appetites, its 

 laying, and manner of bringing up its young. It only differs in 

 being less bold, less docile, and less favoured by mankmd.* 



* The crow says T,Ir Wilson in his American Ornithology, is perhaps the 

 most generally kno«-n, and least beloved, of all our land birds; having 

 neither melody of song, nor beauty of plumage, nor excellence of flesh, nor 

 civilitv of manners, to recommend him ; on the contrary, he is branded as 

 a thief and a plunderer ; a kind of black-coated vagabond, who hovers over 

 the fields of the industrious, fattening on their labours ; and, by his voracity, 

 often blasting their expectations. Hated as he is by the farmer, watched 

 Rnd persecuted by almost every bearer of a gun, who all triumph m his 

 destruction, had not Heaven bestowed on him intelligence and sagaaty far 

 beyond common, there is reason to believe, that tlie whole tribe would long 

 ngo have ceased to exist. 



It is iu the month of May, and until the middle of June, that the crow ib 



