THE RAVEN. 183 



spring begins to be felt, they separate: the hooded crows 

 migrate, and the rooks collect together. These are, at least, 

 distinctions of habit. 



THE RAVEN (CoTVUS 



The raven, though in appearance and also in many of its 

 habits very similar to the carrion crow, is much more a bird 

 of prey. As is the case with the birds of prey, the female is 

 larger than the male; whereas in all the other species of 

 crows the male is larger than the female. 



The raven is a powerful bird. It is rather more than two 

 feet long, four feet in the extent of the wings, and more than 

 two pounds in weight. Its colour is black, glossed with blue 

 on the upper part ; and it is one of those birds which inhabit 

 almost all latitudes, and have their plumage unchanged by 

 varieties of seasons or of climate. Under the line, and near 

 the poles, in the northern hemisphere and in the southern, 

 under burning sun and amid chilling cold, it is still the same 

 dark, forbidding, and hoarsely-croaking raven. 



The disposition of the raven is very similar to that of the 

 carrion crow, only as it is much more powerful it carries 

 matters with a higher hand. But as nature tempers and 

 regulates her productions to each other with a degree and 

 even a kind of perfection which man cannot imitate, the 

 raven is much more a bird of the wilderness than any other 

 of the crow tribe. It inhabits wild hilly districts, generally 

 those that are between the low lands and the higher moun- 

 tains; and though it can well endure the weather, it gives 

 the preference to a southern aspect. Its nest is concealed in 

 a thick tree, or in a cleft of a rock, but it gives preferer^e to 

 the latter. The nest is something after the fashion of that 

 of the carrion crow, but larger; the eggs are five; but as the 

 young are exceedingly voracious and restless for their food, 

 that number is seldom reared, as some generally fall out of 



