THE RAVEN. 329 
The food of the Raven is almost entirely of an animal nature, and there 
are few living things which the Raven will not eat whenever it finds an oppor 
tunity of so doing. Worms, grubs, caterpillars, and insects of all kinds are 
swallowed by hundreds, but the diet in which the Raven most delights is 
dead carrion. In conse- 
quence of this taste, the 
Raven may be found rather 
plentiful on the Scottish 
sheep-feeding grounds,where 
the flocks are of such im 
mense size that the bird is 
sure to find a sufficiency of 
food among the daily dead ; 
for its wings are large and 
powerful, and its daily range 
of flight is so great, that 
many thousands of sheep 
pass daily under its ken, 
and it is tolerably sure in the 
course of the day to find at 
least one dead sheep or lamb. 
Sometimes the Raven ac- 
celerates matters, for if it 
should find an unfortunate 
sheep lying in a ditch, a mis- 
fortune to which these ani- 
mals are especially prone, it 
is sure to cause the speedy 
death of the poor creature 
by repeated attacks upon its RAVEN, —(Corvus Corax.) 
eyes. Weakly or ailing sheep 
are also favourite subjects with the Raven, who soon puts an end to their 
sufferings by the strokes of his long and powerful beak. Even the larger 
cattle are not free from the assaults of this voracious bird, which performs 
in every case the office of a vulture. 
The cunning of the Raven is proverbial, and anecdotes of its extraordinary 
intellectual powers abound in various works. 
The Raven is an excellent linguist, acquiring the art of conversation with 
wonderful rapidity, and retaining with a singularly powerful memory many 
sounds which it has once learned. Whole sentences are acquired by this 
strange bird, and repeated with great accuracy of intonation, the voice being 
a good imitation of human speech, but always sounding as if spoken from 
behind a thick woollen wrapper. 
The Raven is celebrated for its longevity, many instances being known 
where it has attained the age of seventy or eighty years, without losing one 
jot of its activity, or the fading of one spark from its eyes. What may be the 
duration of a Raven’s life in its wild state is quite unknown. 
The colour of the Raven is a uniform blue-black, with green reflections in 
certain lights. The female is always larger than her mate. 
THE common CARRION Crow, so plentiful in this country, much resembles 
in habits and appearance the bird which has just been described, and may 
almost be reckoned as a miniature raven. In many of its customs the 
Crow is very raven-like, especially in its love for carrion, and its propensity 
f attacking the eyes of any dead or dying animal. Like the raven, it has 
been known to attack game of various kinds, although its inferior size forces 
