190 Rev. F. R. Blathwayt,


pecking at her pen, with little sotto voce coos and inutterings, as

much as to say ‘ Come now, do leave off that tiresome letter¬

writing, and attend to me ! ’ He is in most beautiful condition

and plumage ; and sometimes has a flight in the garden, darting

from a tree on to my wife’s shoulder or hand, when she comes

out to call him.


Should this account be in the least acceptable to any of

our members, I might perhaps be able, on another occasion, to

write something about the inmates of another aviary in the

garden.



RAMBLES AMONG THE WILD BIRDS. (No. IV).


By the Rev. F. L. Brathwayt, M.B.O.U.



THB RAVEN (Corvus corax).


“The Raven himself is hoarse,


That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

Under 1113' battlements.”


Shalcspeare put these words into the mouth of Rady

Macbeth, ana he only gave expression to the legend which has

existed from days of old, and which is still in vogue among the

credulous, that the Raven is a bird of evil omen. The field

naturalist, however, though he may take an interest in the quaint

stories which have grown up in connection with this bird, }^et

shuns him not for his evil reputation, but takes every opportunity

of making a closer acquaintance with him in his wild haunts

“ far from the madding crowd.” For the Raven, alas ! is one of

our vanishing birds. It is true that in many of the wilder parts

of our Islands he still holds his own, and may even be increasing

in numbers; but he is an outcast, an outlaw of the air, and

though Parliament has in some cases extended to him the aegis

of its protection, still the shepherd and farmer look upon

him witli suspicion, and consider him to be a dangerous and

undesirable neighbour.


I have always loved this grand bird and his lonely haunts,

and as possibly I have seen more of him in a wild state in

our Islands than many bird-lovers, a few notes may not prove

altogether uninteresting.



