RAVEN. 
223 
cover their quarry without the assistance of sight, 
is scarcely distinctly ascertained, and has not yet 
been the subject of direct experiment. 
Corvus, Linnceus. — Generic character . — Bill 
strong, culmen elevated, bending towards 
the tip, which is often obsoletely notched ; 
nostrils oval, covered with stiff incumbent 
feathers ; wings rather long, pointed, first 
quills to the fourth, which is longest, gradu 
ating ; tail square or cuneated ; feet formed 
for walking ; strong lateral toes of nearly 
equal length ; claws strong and curved. 
Types. — C. corone, cornix. 
Cosmopolite. 
THE RAVEN. 
Corvus corax Linnaeus. 
PLATE XII. 
Corvus corax, and Raven of ornithologists. 
This is the most powerful species of the group : 
it has every member fully and strongly developed, 
and when in full plumage is in reality a beautiful 
and almost noble looking bird. There is, how- 
ever, a wariness and suspicion about the expres- 
sion, which produces an unfavourable idea, and 
is at variance with the frank and open daring 
seen in the carriage of many raptorial birds. 
This seems to have been an opinion handed down 
from antiquity, for before natural history became 
a science, or the habits of birds were studied, 
