THE RAVEN 173 



tions. But when they an-ived at the swelling it jutted 

 out so far that the most daring lads were awed, and 

 acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. 



"So the Ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect 

 security, till the fatal day arrived on which the wood was 

 to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when 

 those birds usually sit. 



"The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were 

 inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the blows 

 of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall ; but 

 still the mother bird sat on. At last, when it gave way, 

 the bird was flung from her nest ; and though her 

 parental affection deserved a better fate, she was whipped 

 down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the 

 ground." 



That is a sad story ; but it is good to know that a 

 bird, feared by so many creatures as cruel and pitiless, 

 could yet show such devotion to her little ones that 

 she stayed at her post even when the tree was tottering. 

 Here was a Raven that knew how to be faithful unto 

 death. 



But there are other sides to a Raven's nature. He is 

 a strange blending of dignity, impudence, and mischief 

 In the preface to his story, Barnaby Rudge, in which a 

 wicked but delightful Raven is introduced, Charles 

 Dickens tells us of the two Ravens from real life that gave 

 him the idea for " Grip," the bird in his novel. 



Of one of these he says laughingly : " Once I met him 

 unexpectedly, about half a mile from my house, walking 

 down the middle of a public street, attended by a pretty 

 large crowd, and exhibiting the whole of his accomplish- 

 ments. His gravity under these trying circumstances I 

 can never forget, nor the extraordinary gallantry with 



