Birds. 217 



passing over sheep, if a tainted smell is perceptible, they cry vehe- 

 mently. From this propensity in the raven to announce his satisfac- 

 tion in the smell of death, has probably arisen the common notion 

 that he is aware of its approach among the human race, and foretells 

 it by his croakings. I have no doubt the idea is founded in truth, al 

 though I think the coming event is not communicated to the raven by 

 any immediate or supernatural impulse, but that in passing over a hu- 

 man habitation from which a sickly or cadaverous smell may escape, it 

 is perfectly natural for him to announce his perception of it by his cries. 

 Shakspeare, however, takes a different view from this, and repre- 

 sents the raven as being seized with an immediate and supernatural 

 impulse in foreshowing the death of Duncan by his croaking. He 

 makes Lady Macbeth say, — 



" The raven himself is hoarse 



That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 



Under my battlements.'' * 



Duncan, when he entered Lady Macbeth's castle, was in perfect 

 health, but Shakspeare wrote in conformity with the legend, and, in- 

 deed, the general belief of the country ; and he well knew the passage 

 would take a firm hold on the human mind. 



The raven lives at perpetual variance with all the other feathered 

 tribes. Even those species which are far his superiors he annoys in- 

 cessantly with his attacks, especially when loaded with food, carrying 

 it either to their young, or to a spot where they can devour it without 

 interruption. I once saw a goshawk carrying what T supposed to be 

 a grouse ; this was evidently dead, and, sticking out behind the bird, 

 gave it a very curious appearance. Three or four corbies were high 

 in the air, making, from every quarter, repeated attacks on the gos- 

 hawk, and endeavouring to rob him of his prey. At length, one of 

 them was just striking the noble bird, when, relaxing his hold, the 

 dead creature, whatever it might be, fell straight for the earth. The 

 hawk dived after it with a rapidity perfectly astonishing, and, I think, 



* Othello also says, — 



" It comes o'er my memory 

 As doth the raven o'er th' infected house, 

 Boding to all." 

 - And in Marlowe's ' Jew of Malta,' this passage occurs : — 

 " The sad presaging raven tells 

 The sick man's passport in her hollow beak ; 

 And, in the shadow of the silent night, 

 Doth shake contagion from her sable wing." 

 See also the history of the raven in Wilson's ' American Ornithology.' — Ed. 



