BILL OF THE RAVEN. 



175 



g'mg or thrusting into cracks in the bark of trees, and 

 fissures of rocks. It is inchning to straight, and can 

 inflict a severe wound by thrusting ; it is ridged and 

 arched in the culraen, and firm in the tomia, so that it 

 can cut by the pressure of the mandibles ; it is a little 

 hooked at the tip, and waved in the tomia, so that it 

 can keep a firm hold, while the owner tugs and tears 

 by the motions of the neck ; and as it is long, the 

 snap of the point is very sharp from the rapidity of 

 the motion. It is, in short, a very serviceable bill — 

 a bill of all work, as it were ; and when properly 

 examined, it is found to answer well with the omnivo- 

 rous habit of the owner. 



Raven's bill. 



And the raven, though not very numerous in any 

 place, and though dwelling in solitude, pairing for life, 

 and not being very prolific (as is the case with most 

 birds of prey), is one of the most generally distributed 

 of birds. Almost every other species has some 

 country which it can claim to a very considerable 

 extent as its own ; and even though it is migrant, and 

 passes the different seasons in places some thousands 

 of miles asunder, it returns with the season, not only 

 to the same latitude, and to the same land, but often 

 to the very same spot. The raven is no migrant, 



