

RAVEN. 67 



which were let loose every morning to collect intelligence 

 of what was going on in the world, and which, on return- 

 ing in the evening, perched upon Odin's shoulders, to 

 whisper in his ear whatever information they might have 

 collected ; and even now, as we learn from Olafsen and 

 Povelsen, the Icelanders entertain superstitious notions 

 regarding the Eaven they believe this bird to be not 

 only acquainted with what is going on at a distance, but 

 also what is to happen in future." Iceland is said to 

 have been originally stocked with Ravens from the Faroe 

 Islands. Shakespeare alludes to our superstitions about 

 the Eaven in King Henry VI., Othello, and Macbeth. 



The various qualities and* powers of voice exhibited by 

 birds in general, and the diversity of structure found to 

 exist in the windpipes or trachese of different species in some 

 particular families, have justly excited the attention and 

 remarks of several writers. Descriptions and illustrations 

 of the peculiarities of these parts in some of those species 

 most remarkable for their deviation from the common form 

 will be found in the fourth, twelfth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 

 volumes of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of 

 London. 



Among British Birds, the power of imitating the sounds 

 of the human voice is possessed in the greatest perfection 

 by the Eaven, the Magpie, the Jay, and the Starling. In 

 proof of this power in the Eaven, many anecdotes might 

 be repeated : the two following, derived from unquestiona- 

 ble authorities, are perhaps less known than many others : 

 " Eavens have been taught to articulate short sentences 

 as distinctly as any Parrot. One, belonging to Mr. Hen- 

 slow, of St. Alban's, speaks so distinctly, that when we 

 first heard it, we were actually deceived in thinking it 

 was a human voice : and there is another at Chatham 



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