154 THE RAVEN 



The raven always pairs for life, and the strength 

 of affection, the fidelity, the dignity which this implies 

 seem to me to raise him indefinitely, as it does the 

 owls, above birds which congregate in flocks, and so, 

 presumably, abjure family ties and duties throughout 

 a great part of the year. Still more does he rise 

 above birds which choose a new mate with each 

 new love season, or which, like the daintily-stepping 

 cock-pheasant or the magnificent, but singularly 

 selfish black cock, are polygamous by nature, and 

 summon with a lordly crow, or cluck, or call, now 

 one, and now another, of their humble- looking wives 

 or drudges, to their presence. 



The young ravens, long before they leave the 

 nest, are, except in strength of leg or wing, 

 completely developed both in colour and in form ; 

 while birds of lower orders have to pass through a 

 long apprenticeship, before they can be said to be 

 perfect in either. A young robin or a young thrush 

 remains in appearance, a young robin or a young 

 thrush for many weeks after it has left the nest ; 

 while birds like the harrier, the gull, the gannet, the 

 great northern diver go, for years, through a very 

 kaleidoscope of changes, before they can be 

 pronounced to have come of full age. And it is on 

 this early maturity of the raven, as well as on his 



