Chap. 15.] 
THE KATEISr. 
491 
and then lets them fall again and again upon the stones or tiles 
beneath, until at last the shell is cracked, after which the bird 
is able to open them. This is a bird with a very ill-omened 
garrulity, though it has been highly praised by some.^^ It is 
observed, that from the rising of the constellation Arcturus 
until the arrival of the swallow, it is but rarely to be seen 
about the sacred groves and temples of Minerva; in some 
places, indeed, not at all, Athens for instance. In addition to 
these facts, it is the only one that continues to feed its young 
for some time after they have begun to fly. The crow is most 
inauspicious at the time of incubation, or, in other words, just 
after the summer solstice. 
CHAP. 15. THE EAVEN-. 
All the other birds of the same kind drive their young ones 
from their nest, and compel them to fly ; the raven, for in- 
stance, which not only feeds on flesh, but even drives its young, 
when able to fly, to a still greater distance. Hence it is that 
in small hamlets there are never more than two^^ pairs to 
be found ; and in the neighbourhood of Crannon, in Thessaly, 
never more than one, the parents always quitting the spot to 
give place to their ofl'spring. There have been some differences 
observed between this and the bird last mentioned. Eavens 
breed before the summer solstice, and continue in bad health for 
sixty days — being afflicted with a continual thirst more particu- 
larly — before the ripening of the fig in autumn ; while, on the 
other hand, the crow is attacked by disease after that period. 
The raven lays, at most, but five eggs. It is a vulgar belief, 
that they couple, or else lay, by means of the beak ; and that, 
consequently, if a pregnant woman happens to eat a raven's 
egg, she will 'be delivered by the mouth. It is also be- 
lieved, that if the eggs are even so much as brought beneath 
the roof, a difficult labour will be the consequence. Aristotle 
denies it, and assures us in all good faith that there is no more 
truth in this than in the same story about the ibis in Egypt ; 
56 "Curse on your ill-betiding croak." See "The Farmer^s "Wife and 
the Raven," in Gay's Fables. 
^'5' Aristotle says, that it was never to be seen in the Acropolis or Citadel 
of Athens. 
^ Only the case with the large raven, or Corvus corax of Linnseus, the 
others living in flocks. 
