The Raven may be called a general inhabitant 

 of the globe, appearing to be equally common in 

 the northern and southern regions of both hemi- 

 spheres. It is naturally a long-lived bird. " What 

 is reported, says Willughby, by Hesiod and others 

 of the ancients, of the long lives of Ravens, is 

 without doubt fabulous^ but that all birds in 

 general, compared with quadrupeds, are long-lived, 

 we have already proved by divers examples in 

 several kinds ; and that Ravens are in the number- 

 of the longest lived we will not deny." 



In the Count de BufFon's Natural History of 

 Birds may be found an agreeable abridgement of 

 many curious particulars recorded of this bird by 

 ancient writers, collected from Aldrovandus, &c. 

 These the brfevity required in the present publi- 

 cation makes it most advisable to omit. I must 

 not however dismiss the article Raven without 

 noticing a most curious misinterpretation of a 

 passage in the British Zoology by Monsr. Mont- 

 beillard, the coadjutor of the Count de BufFon in 

 his History of Birds. Monsr. Montbeillard, whose 

 knowledge of the English language was, probably, 

 not very correct, after mentioning the natural ill 

 scent of the Raven in consequence of its general 

 habit of feeding on carrion, observes, in a note, 

 that " the authors of the British Zoology alone 

 assert that the Raven has an agreeable smell," 

 which, he adds, " is difficult to believe of a bird 

 that feeds on carrion." On turning however to the 

 British Zoology, I find that Mr. Pennant, speaking 

 of Ravens, observes, what every one knows to be 



