&2 THE RAVEN 



are common enough in Western Australia, and pied 

 and even white varieties of the raven have been 

 observed in the Outer Hebrides, in the Faroes, and 

 in Iceland. " I have seen," says Boyle, in his book 

 On Colour published before Dr Johnson wrote his 

 Dictionary, and somewhat perfunctorily described 

 the raven, which he might often have seen, had he 

 cared to notice it, in his Tour in the Hebrides, as 

 " a large black fowl, said to be remarkably voracious, 

 and whose cry is pretended to be ominous " " I 

 have seen a perfectly white raven as to bill, as well 

 as feathers ; " and there is, if I mistake not, just 

 such a white raven in the Albino case in the 

 British Museum. 



How is it, we may well ask, that the raven, 

 whose croak is one of the most awe-inspiring and 

 sepulchral sounds in nature, has not, according to 

 the rule which generally holds good in such cases, 

 received in all languages a name which is onomato- 

 poeic expressive, that is, of his cry? The Greek 

 name korax is admirably imitative. The Latin 

 corvus, the French corbeau, the Spanish cuervo, 

 the Italian corbo, the Cumbrian and Northumbrian 

 croupy craw, the Highland corbie craw, the English 

 words crow and croak, connected with him, will pass 

 muster. The strange thing is that the names given 



