raven. 399 
RASORES (Illiger.) — *Scratchers, a family of birds who scratch 
their food from the earth.* 
RAVEN {Corvus corax^ Linnaeus.) 
Corvus corax, Lm?i. Syst. 1. p. 155. 2. — Fauna Suec. No. 85 Gme/.Syst. p. 364 
sp. 2. — hath. Inch Orn. 1. p. 150. 1. — Flem. Br. Anim. p. 87. — Corvus, Briss. 
11. p. 8. 1. — Raii, Syn. p. 39. A. 1. — Le Corbeau, Bujf. Ois. 3. p. 13. t. 2 
Ib. pi. Enl. 495. — Corbeau noir, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 1. p. 107. — Kolkrabe, 
Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 2. p. 148. — Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 93. — Raven, 
Br. Zoo). 1. p. 218. 74 Arct. Zool. 2. No. 134. — Levnti’s Br. Birds, 1. t. 33. 
— Lath. Syn. 1. p. 367. 1. — Ih. Supp. p. 74. — Mont. Orn. Diet — lb. Supp 
Bewick's Br. Birds Fult. Cat. Dorset, p. 4. — White’s Hist. Selb. — Wils. Amer. 
Orn. 9. p. 113 Selby, pi. 27 *. p. 67.* 
Provincial . — C orby . 
This is the largest species of the crow genus ; there is no difference 
in the plumage of the sexes. The male weighs about two pound seven 
ounces ; the female four or five ounces more ; length near two feet ; 
the bill is black, strong, and thick, two inches and three quarters in 
length ; nostrils covered with bristles, which reach more than half way 
down the bill ; irides dusky ; the whole plumage is black, the upper 
parts glossed with blue ; the under dull and dusky ; tail consists of 
twelve feathers, somewhat rounded ; about the throat the feathers are 
long, loose, and sharp pointed. 
The Raven is a very hardy, crafty, and wary bird ; is found in all 
climates, from the frozen shores of Greenland to the regions of the 
torrid zone. The corvus australis of Gmelin, which Captain Cook 
found in the Friendly Isles, in the South Seas, is probably no other 
than a variety of this bird. 
It is a voracious species, and seems to possess much of the habits of 
the vulture ; and, like that tribe, it is patient in hunger, and possesses 
the sense of smell in an exquisite degree of perfection. Even at Hud- 
son’s Bay, where the severity of the frost rapidly destroys the effluvia 
of dead matter, these birds assemble from all quarters very soon after 
the slaughter of any animal, glut themselves in plenty, retire to a 
small distance to digest, and then return again to their meal. * This 
supposed faculty of smelling death,” says Mr. Knapp, “formerly rendered 
their presence, or even their voice, ominous to all ; as, 
‘ That hateful messenger of heavy things, 
Of death and dolour telling 
and the unusual sound of their harsh croak still, when illness is in 
the house, with some timid and affectionate persons, brings old fancies to 
remembrance, savouring of terror and alarm.” * It renders itself highly 
useful by devouring putrid matter, which would be highly obnoxious ; 
and on this account it would be treated with veneration, if its appetite 
