CARRION 97 



in the case of his favourite bird. "In 1885," he 

 says, " I saw, one morning, on the lawn here, a fine 

 old raven. Immediately afterwards, a second one 

 pitched down and a battle-royal took place. One of 

 the birds I could not discover whether it was cock 

 or hen was pecked in the eye and killed on the 

 spot." It was a case of the "biter bit," "comix 

 cornici oculos confodit" with a vengeance. The 

 phrase pasce corvos, "be food for the ravens," 

 among the Romans, like *0i es /co'/oa/ca?, "go to the 

 ravens," or /3aXV e? /co'/owca?, " fling him to the 

 ravens," among the Greeks, were curses impre- 

 cating utter disgrace and ruin. They involved 

 death, mutilation by a bird of evil omen, want of 

 burial. And want of burial carried with it disagree- 

 able consequences in the other world. Charon 

 would not ferry the soul over the Styx. 



But what the raven loves most of all is carrion ; 

 and thereby, like the vulture in the desert, or like 

 the kite in mediaeval cities, or the adjutant in 

 Eastern cities now, he, no doubt, plays his appointed 

 part in creation. The carcase of any animal lying 

 on hill or valley, or anything and everything thrown 

 up by the tide, from a mollusc or a shellfish to a 

 shark or a whale, he claims as his own. A 



shellfish, when it proves too hard a nut for him to 



G 



