474 AVES—RAVEN. 
goes every where, affronts and drives off the dogs, plays his pranks on the 
poultry, and is particularly assiduous in cultivating the good-will of the 
cook maid, who seems to be the favorite of the family. But then, with the 
amusing qualities of a favorite, he often also has the vices and defects. He 
is a glutton by nature, and a thief by habit. He does not confine himself to 
petty depredations on the pantry or the larder ; he soars at more magnificent 
plunder ; at spoils which he can neither exhibit nor enjoy ; but which, like 
a miser, he rests satisfied with having the satisfaction of sometimes visiting 
and contemplating in secret. A piece of money, a tea-spoon, or a ring, are 
always tempting baits to his avarice; these he will slily seize upon, and, if 
not watched, will carry to his favorite hole. 

In his wild state, the raven is an active and greedy plunderer. Nothing 
comes amiss to him. If in his flights he perceives no hope of carrion, (and 
his scent is so exquisite, that he can smell it a vast distance,) he then con- 
tents himself with more unsavory food, fruits, insects, and the accidental 
desserts of a dunghill. This bird chiefly builds its nest in trees, and lays 
five or six eggs of a pale green color, marked with small brownish spots. _ 
Notwithstanding the injury these birds do in picking out the eyes of sheep 
and lambs, when they find them sick and helpless, a vulgar respect is paid 
for them as being the birds that fed the prophet Elijah in the wilderness. 
This prepossession in favor of the raven is of very ancient date, as the 
Romans themselves, who thought the bird ominous, paid it, from motives 
of fear, the most profound veneration. One of these that had been kept in 
the temple of Castor, as Pliny informs us, flew down into the shop of a 
tailor, who took much delight in the visits of his new acquaintance. He 
