RAVENS. 



259 



Raven may be taught to speak with facility. It will likewise imitate a great variety of sounds, and 

 those who can overlook its thievish propensities and tiresome habits will often derive considerable 

 pleasure from watching its amusing tricks, and cultivating its really high capacities. 



The VULTURE RAVENS (Corvidtur), as two African members of this group have been called, 

 are birds exceeding the Common Raven in rapacity as well as in size. Both these species have 

 unusually thick beaks, compressed at their sides, the upper mandible being so decidedly bent as 

 closely to resemble that of a Vulture ; the third and fourth quills are longer than the rest ; the tail is 

 rather large, and slightly graduated. 



The White-necked Vulture Raven {Corvidtur albicollis) and the Thick-billed Vulture 

 Raven (Corvidtur crassirostris), the former a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and the latter an 



THE WHITE-NECKED VULTURE RAVEN (Corvllltlir albiccllis). 



inhabitant of Abyssinia, are much alike in their general appearance ; both are of a glossy coal black, 

 except upon the nape, which is white. In the Abyssinian species the sides of the neck gleam with a 

 rich purple, and the rest of the coat is lighted up with a blue refulgence ; the small feathers upon the 

 wing-covers near the shoulder are a mixture of chestnut and black; and the white marks upon the nape 

 extend upwards till they reach the top of the head ; the eye is reddish brown, the feet and beak 

 black, the latter being tipped with white. The length of this species is about three feet two inches, 

 the length of wing one foot five inches, and of the tail nine inches. According to Riippell, this bird 

 inhabits the Abvssinian highlands, and is often found at an altitude of 5,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea. Le Vaillant tells us that the Vulture Raven is voracious, daring, extremely noisy, and very 

 filthy in its habits, subsists principally upon carrion, and destroys large numbers of sheep and gazelles, 

 tearing out their eyes and tongue and then devouring them. Were it possible, it would readily 



