RAVEN 31 



proclaimed to all the surrounding woods as 

 clearly as if they rang a dinner bell. 



RAVEN 



Larger and shyer than the Crow, the Raven 

 is never seen in flocks, nor about farms, but 

 keeps to the heavily wooded mountains. He is 

 glossy black from beak to tail, with steel-blue 

 glints of light ; the 

 feathers of his neck are 

 long and pointed, instead 

 of being round like the 

 Crow's. Whether perch- 

 ing or in flight his mo- 

 tions are all slow and 

 stately. A handsome 

 bird, with a peculiar raven 



p n . i j t Length 25 inches 



grace 01 his own; but I 



do not know of a harsher, more disagreeable voice 

 in the woods than the guttural "cr-r-r-cruck" 

 or the hoarse, half-strangled scream he gives 

 forth by way of welcoming the spring or making 

 love to his lady; it seems that if he could only 

 keep silent, he might make a better impression. 

 These birds not only mate for life, but return 

 to the same nest in a tree or a ledge of some 

 mountain cliff, year after year. It is a well- 

 shaped nest, not loose like the Crow's, but com- 

 pact of sticks and lined with grasses, sometimes 



