224 
RAVEN. 
“ the evil-boding crow” — “ infausta cornix” — 
found a place in many savage superstitions,* or 
served as the emblem of bad fortune, in the tales 
of the historian, or imagery of the poet. 
The Raven is a bird which prefers an alpine 
range of country, though at the same time in 
pursuit of food, or attracted by the presence of 
carrion, it often frequents the cultivated districts, 
and even the vicinity of towns. In Britain it is 
pretty generally distributed ; towards the south, 
however, becoming more local, and frequenting 
either the mountainous parts, the rugged mari- 
time promontories, or some of the extensive and 
wild chases, abounding with aged timber ; to the 
north it increases in numbers, and frequents 
similar situations, and in the same direction 
across the Firth of Forth it may be accounted a 
common bird. In Scotland, where this bird has 
most frequently come under our observation, it is 
spread over the immense tracts of wild wood and 
rocky muir, where it finds secure retirements in 
the breeding time, descending to the pastoral 
walks in search for much of its food, and living 
there, and in the lower country, during the seve- 
rity of winter. Its favourite breeding haunts are 
precipitous rocks, either on the coast or inland, 
and there, on some projecting shelve or ledge, 
• On the contrary, “ this bird is among the Ameri- 
can savages an emblem of returning health : the physicians, 
or rather magicians, when they visit a sick person, in- 
voke the Raven, and imitate his croaking voice.” t 
t Adair, Hist, of Am. quoted from Penn. Arct. ZooL ii. p. 246. 
