152 THE RAVEN 



" The moping heron, motionless and stiff, 

 That on a stone, as silently and stilly, 

 Stood, an apparent sentinel, as if 

 To guard the water-lily." 



And now, the presence of the raven made the 

 eeriness of the place complete, and for four months 

 in each of the next five years in January, when the 

 old birds began to repair their nest ; in February, 

 when the eggs were laid ; in March, when the young 

 birds were hatched ; and in April, when already 

 dressed in their complete and final plumage, they 

 were beginning to find their wings I was able, from 

 time to time, to watch the progress made, and put 

 to the proof the solicitude of the parent birds for 

 each other and for their young, to admire their aerial 

 movements, and to listen to the curiously varied 

 intonations of their deep-voiced throats. The 

 augurs and necromancers of old are said to have 

 distinguished sixty-five intonations of the raven's 

 voice a wide field for augural science or chicanery ; 

 but there are quite enough varieties his croak, his 

 bark, his grunt, his chuckle to attract the ear and 

 call for close attention. There are few birds whose 

 movements are so varied and so graceful, especially 

 when the nest is preparing and the cares of mother- 

 hood have not yet begun. They will toy with one 



