The Raven 



he deigns to dwell he becomes the bete noir, the sable satanic ruler, of the 

 bird-world. In man alone has the Raven met his match; and the story 

 of the eternal conflict between man, the supreme of the mammalian line, 

 and Carava, the dusky apex of the avian succession, if it could be told, 

 would afford some of the most thrilling chapters in the history of animal 

 psychology. 





Taken in Kern County 



Photo by the A uthor 



THE RAVEN'S FIEF 



The ancient occupation of the earth by this sable master is evidenced 

 in part by the geographical races, some twenty in number, into which 

 the virtually uniform and really implastic species, Corvus corax, has 

 been divided. The differences recognized are chiefly those of size and 

 of the relative proportions of beak and claw, according as the environ- 

 ment of the bird has made greater or less demands upon its hardihood 

 and prowess. A host of the Raven's lesser brethren, crows and choughs 

 and rooks, and what not, occupy pretty much the same territory, and 

 they extend the corvine domain well over the southern hemisphere, 

 save that no member of the genus is to be found in South America. In 

 California, as elsewhere, southern examples of the Raven evince a ten- 



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