NORTHERN RAVEN. 123 



dropping them on rocks, for the purpose of breaking them 

 to obtain their contents, otherwise beyond his reach, — facts 

 observed by men of credit, and recorded as an instinct of the 

 Raven by Pennant and Latham. It is, however, seldom that 

 these birds, any more than the rapacious kinds, feel an inclina- 

 tion for drinking, as their thirst is usually quenched by the 

 blood and juices of their prey. The Ravens are also more 

 social than the birds of prey, — which arises from the promis- 

 cuous nature and consequent abundance of their food, which 

 allows a greater number to subsist together in the same place, 

 without being urged to the stern necessity of solitude or fam- 

 ine, — a condition to which the true rapacious birds are always 

 driven. The habits of these birds are much more generally 

 harmless than is usually imagined ; they are useful to the farmer 

 in the destruction they make of moles and mice, and are often 

 very well contented with insects and earth-worms. 



Though spread over the whole world, they are rarely ever 

 birds of passage, enduring the winters even of the Arctic circle, 

 or the warmth of Mexico, St. Domingo, and Madagascar. 

 They are particularly attached to the rocky eyries where they 

 have been bred and paired. Throughout the year they are 

 observed together in nearly equal numbers, and they never 

 entirely abandon this adopted home. If they descend into 

 the plain, it is to collect subsistence ; but they resort to the 

 low grounds more in winter than summer, as they avoid the 

 heat and dislike to wander from their cool retreats. They never 

 roost in the woods, like Crows, and have sufficient sagacity to 

 choose in their rocky retreats a situation defended from the 

 winds of the north, — commonly under the natural vault formed 

 by an extending ledge or cavity of the rock. Here they retire 

 during the night in companies of 15 to 20. They perch upon 

 the bushes which grow straggling in the clefts of the rocks ; 

 but they form their nests in the rocky crevices, or in the 

 holes of the mouldering walls, at the summits of ruined towers ; 

 and sometimes upon the high branches of large and solitary 

 trees. After they have paired, their fidelity appears to continue 

 through life. The male expresses his attachment by a particu- 



