242 RAVEN. 
frequent. It very rarely visits Heligoland. In Iceland and Scandi- 
navia the bird formerly sacred to Odin is abundant, and it is said to 
have been observed once in Spitsbergen ; while southward it is dis- 
tributed all over Europe, especially in the wooded and mountainous 
districts, and along the sea-coast. It inhabits the northern half of 
Asia down to the Himalayas; but between Palestine and the 
Cape Verde Islands it is represented by the smaller Brown- 
necked Raven, C. umbrinus, or by C. affinis, which has the nasal 
bristles pointing upwards and very long secondaries. North-western 
Africa, the Canaries and Madeira, are inhabited by another small 
species, C. tingitanus. In America the Raven is found across the 
continent from the Pacific to Greenland, and southward to Guate- 
mala, but it is local and not common to the east of the Mississippi 
Valley. 
The nest, often built or repaired early in February, though later 
on the fells, is generally a bulky structure when placed in a crag, 
but when in trees it is, according to my experience, smaller and 
more compact. The foundation is a mass of sticks, stems of 
heather &c., while the lining is of wool, rabbit’s-fur, deer’s-hair and 
other soft substances. The eggs, 3-5, rarely 6 or 7 in number, are 
bluish-green, flecked with olive-brown, sometimes sparingly, but at 
other times so thickly as to produce an almost uniform ash-brown 
appearance; exceptionally they are reddish-white, blotched with 
rufous-brown: average measurements 1°9 by 1°32 in. In defence 
of its nest the Raven is very bold, attacking even an Eagle; while 
its harsh, defiant, barking whow, whow, when once heard, will never 
be forgotten. It has, however, softer and more musical notes, 
generally uttered early in the year, while the bird is performing 
aerial evolutions and frequent somersaults; and its imitative and 
linguistic powers in confinement are well known. There is a bold 
sweep in its flight unrivalled by that of any other Corvine bird. In 
its food it is omnivorous ; and where it is persecuted on account of its 
supposed depredations among lambs and game it is shy and difficult 
of approach ; but in other places it is very tame, and in Majorca I have 
seen pairs following the peasants, like Rooks, when the ground under 
the olive-trees was being ploughed. It is a great destroyer of rats. 
The plumage of the adult is black, glossed with purplish-blue 
on the upper parts and the acuminate feathers: of the throat; tail 
slightly rounded ; bill, legs and feet black. Length about 25 in.; 
wing 17 in. The female is slightly smaller than the male, the 
feathers on the throat are less developed, and her plumage, like that 
of the young, is less lustrous. 
