The Raven 



was making frantic efforts to get it away 

 from him. Finally, in a scrimmage the ball 

 was dropped and, though several birds dived 

 after it, when it became evident that it would 

 reach the ground first, no further effort was 

 made to regain it. 



After this I witnessed an aerial minuet 

 by two gifted performers, — a tumbling con- 

 test, wherein touching hands (wing-tips), 

 with one bird upside down, was varied with 

 simultaneous somersaults and graceful up- 

 right, or stalling, presentations. Altogether 

 it was a sight for the gods, and it gave one 

 a new opinion of these erstwhile sullen and 

 funereal bird-people. 



Concerning the notes of the Raven, it is 

 quite certain that a volume might be written; 

 for this most intelligent bird succeeds in com- 

 municating his emotions very fully, at least 

 to his mate. Yet for all the centuries of 

 association, no discriminating ear has se- 

 riously analyzed the Raven's notes; or if so, 

 no record has been left. Nor does the author 

 feel competent to carry the attempt beyond 

 ^JfaJMfe the most casual sketch. Croak is the imi- 

 '?&'' - • <p^ tative word used oftenest to characterize 



. __ * the note of the Raven; but perhaps krawk 



-ySfe^ ,. i,**^ would hit it more nearly. The note is, 

 however, of great individual variety, whether 

 photo by the Author uttered singly or in twos or threes, in ac- 

 hurrying off to join the fun cordance with the degree of emotion pres- 

 ent in the bird; thus: krawk, or quawk 

 quawk, or hawk hawk hawk. On any reckoning, it is a sonorous and 

 gruesome sound — almost majestic. Any of these notes, by the way, 

 may be easily recalled to memory (though not, of course reproduced in 

 volume) by a snoring sound accomplished on an intaken breath. The 

 notes themselves may, therefore, be properly described as stertorous. 

 For song, the Raven offers a curious, mellow, hunger - o' ope, accompanied 

 by an earnest bobbing of the foreparts. This utterance is closely imi- 

 tated, or exactly parallelled, by the Crow (C. brachyrhynchos) ; and to my 

 mind is, in turn, associated with the delar'y cry of the Eastern Bluejay 

 {Cyanocitta cristata). In other words, it is of familiar rather than merely 



