186 OMNI VOILE. 



him to come sufficiently near, his first salutation would be to 

 dash himself at your eye ; but if you have a gun you can 

 make sure of him long before that; only " beware the beak," 

 if he is merely winged or otherwise slightly wounded. Not- 

 withstanding, if you take him home, feed him well, and heal 

 his wound, he will not only forgive you, but become a faithful 

 servant. 



When the raven has young, his excursions are not carried 

 on to such a distance over the wastes ; and in very severe 

 weather he comes farther down, prowling under the hedges, 

 and even near the houses, and if he finds any animal in a 

 weakly state, he helps it on its way. Rabbits find no quar- 

 ter ; and even the spiked armour of the hedgehog is not 

 proof against the thrust of the raven's bill, which is in some 

 respects more formidable than the beaks of the rapacious 

 birds, inasmuch as it stabs to death, and then cuts up the 

 slain like a pair of great shears. 



When there is " death on the hill," which there generally 

 is at the time of the spring and the midsummer rains, of 

 birds that are weak from long flights, or want of food during 

 the first of these, and of nestlings unable to fly during the 

 second, it is high feast with the raven; and while all else are 

 driven to shelter, you may find him daring the storm, and 

 beating about for his victims. 



The extending of cultivation, and the greater attention 

 that is now paid to the condition of the stock, both cattle 

 and sheep, during the winter, have diminished the food, and 

 consequently thinned the number of the ravens. In the 

 olden time, when the cattle went first to the hill, there were 

 many of them so weak that they were unable to rise without 

 assistance, so that part of the early morning's occupation for 

 the people was to go round and lift the weakly cattle. The 

 sheep did not absolutely need lifting on the level ground, but 

 if they happened by any chance to get into even a shallow 



