i8. Note on the Common Ra^vcn— Corvus Coraoc 



'Examiners. 



>/ 



This bird, so common in the Pan jab, is known to Panjabi 

 falconers by the nnme of dho^har. In the Murree hills it is 

 called 5arn qogh, a name perhaps also applied to the Indian 

 Corby,^ with which it is confused. Amongst Persians it is 

 commonly known as kulagh-i siyah or "' black crow,"^ but amongst 

 Persian falconers by its Turki name of guzqun or quzgj^nn. Rang 

 dodhar ka mir n&m^Mahtab^^ "black as a raven and her name 

 ' Moon/" isa Hindustani proverb for an ugly woman that gives her- 

 self airs, or for things that are inconiiruous. Arabs call the raven 

 Qhurab^ 'l-Bayn or the " Raven of Separation " because it 

 ^' separated 'V itself fz^om Ji'oah and failed to return. Then Noah 

 cursed ifc for its disobedience, and its colour was changed from 



white to black, and " its throat was pierced" ; * its feet became 

 'deformed ^ and fear of men entered Into its heart. Its epithet is 

 Fdsiq or "Evil-doer," one of the epithets of Satan. This bird 

 of ill-omen alights on the deserted habitations of men ; it 

 mourns like one afflicted : when it sees friends together, it croaks 

 and its croaking foietells "separation "; and when it sees well- 

 peopled habitations, ifc announces their ruin and desolation. If 

 it croaks thrice, the omen is evil, but if twice, it is good. Ibn 

 ^Abbas^ the Prophet's cousin, when he heard it croak, used, in order 

 to avert the ill-omen, to exclaim, " God ! there is no bird but it 

 is Thine ; there is no good but Thy good ; and there is no God but 

 Thee." Mod er-n Arabs avert the omen by exclaiming, " Khajr^ 

 khair^ Good, good." 



The raven is, in winter, found in Inrge flocks in the deserts of 

 the North- Western Frontier. It breeds largely in the Sulaiman 

 Range, near Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, and 

 of course elsewhere. I have observed the nest in the plains 

 close to Dera Ismail Khan city, but resident falconers have 

 told me that only within late years has it taken to breed- 

 ing there. On a 23rd February I found a nest at Bhakkar 



1 The Indian Corby, the gTiagri kdnw of the Derajat. By the Hindna of 

 Bengal it is considered a messenger of death ; " Situ R^m" they say when 



they hear it croak, 



2 Kulagh is the hooded crow, tlie common crow in southern Persia. 



3 The same aa Likhd na pafhd nirn Muhammad Fdzil, The opposite 

 is Shakl churel ki aur mizdj pariyon Xra, "» witch in face and a fairy in 



nature." 



♦ A well-known Arab snying, the meaning of which is obscure. 



6 'Jf^aHs a disease in camels* feet: as the raven hops and does aoi 

 walk, it is supposed to saffer from their disease 



