172 



BRITISH BIRDS 



Raven. 



Corvus corax. 



FIG. 57. EAVEN. 



natural size. 



Black with purple reflections ; tail black ; iris with two 

 circles, the inner grey, the outer ash-brown. Length, twenty-five 

 inches. 



The raven has the reputation, true or false, of being one of the 

 longest-lived birds ; certainly it is one of the hardiest, and capable 

 of adapting itself to the greatest extremes of temperature. Its 

 range in the northern hemisphere extends from the regions of 

 1 thick-ribbed ice ' to the damp, hot woods and burning coasts 

 of Southern Mexico and Central America. The tropical jaguar 

 may help it to a meal at one extremity of its range, the polar 

 bear at the other. Compared to such diversities of climate and 

 of other conditions, those of the British Islands are as nothing. 

 From the Isle of Wight and the southern coast to the northern 

 extremity of Scotland, and beyond, to * utmost Kilda's lonely isle,' 



