CORVUS CORAX, 
Raven. 
Corvus corax, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 29. 
maximus, Scopoli. 
clericus, Sparrm. Mus. Carls., tab. 2. 
leucophcens, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. i. p. 155, pi. 100. 
The Cormdcs (Ravens, Crows, Rooks, acid Daws) are very widely distributed over the globe ; but there 
are certain jiortions of it in which they are never found : thus, in the Old World, none occur in New Zealand, 
nor, I believe, in Polynesia, and, in the New, none south of Mexico. This well-marked family of birds has been 
divided into several genera, by the separation of the Rooks and Daws from the Ravens and Crows, and 
again from each other ; but, for myself, I prefer retaining them all under the old generic name of Corvus. 
It is the prevailing opinion among ornithologists that our Raven is not so ubiquitous as it was formerly 
supposed to be, and that the American and Thibetan species, hitherto regarded as identical with it, are 
distinct ; but the settlement of the question is of no moment in connexion with the history of the Raven 
par excellence. 
The range of the Conus corax is said to extend eastward to the Punjaub and Affgbanistan. 
It is also abundant in Palestine and Asia Minor, throughout the length of the Atlas range in North 
Africa, and all parts of Central Europe, even as far north as the Quickiock Fells in Lapland, and beyond 
this to the North Cape. It is also found in Siberia, and in Iceland is abundant and stationary. In the Bri- 
tish Islands it was formerly far more numerous than it is now. The keepers, of course, are its most deadly 
enemies ; for although many of them are deterred by the superstitions connected with this “ bird of ill 
omen ” from shooting it, they relieve their consciences by laying in its way a strychnined rabbit, which it 
eats, and either tumbles over on the spot or Hies to the nearest water to slake its burning thirst, and there 
ceases to live, leaving its body to be devoured by a gull, a fox, or a hungry dog, which in its turn falls a 
victim to the virulence of the poison. I have undoubted evidence that this is often done in Cornwall, and I 
believe that the practice also prevails in other counties. Time was when every rocky headland had its pair 
of Ravens living in harmony with the Peregrine and the Sea-Eagle; and this is still the case on the rugged 
coasts of Ireland, the western part of Scotland, and the Hebrides. At St. Kilda, it still holds its own 
with the Eagle and the Falcon. The Raven does not, however, confine its breeding-haunts to rocks, 
nor always rear its young amid the din of the thousand voices of sea-birds. The “ Raven tree ” still stands 
in many of our inland counties ; and on it the bird occasionally places its nest. In other countries its habits 
are precisely similar to those seen in our own ; but in Palestine, as we learn from Mr. Tristram, it also breeds 
on the mosque and ruined towers. Although at the 'breeding-season only a solitary pair are to be found in 
any given locality, there are times when several in small flocks, and several together, may be observed in 
company winging their way home to their roosting-places, like the gregarious Rook. If brought up from the 
nest, it bears confinement apparently witli pleasure and contentment ; for individuals have been known to 
spend the whole of their time from year’s end to year’s end (I might almost say from century to century, so 
long-lived is the bird) in some brewer’s yard, or about the premises of a country inn. Here it sits about on 
any little eminence, croaks out its harsh note at strangers, gives battle to stray dogs, catches weakly sparrows, 
rats, and mice (and ducklings and young chickens, if not defended by their mothers), observes, apparently with 
interest, all that is going on, and becomes completely one of the establishment. In a state of nature, on the other 
hand,theyare shy, mistrustful, and noteasily approached. In the air their actions are playful, and their evolutions 
highly graceful and interesting,sometimes circling at an immense height, at others chasing and dipping after each 
other like Rooks when presaging wind. Those who have witnessed these aerial evolutions, the flight of a pair 
in pursuit of their prey over the mountain-side, or their a|)parently playfid tiltings with the Eagle, cannot but 
have admired their sweeping and graceful motions ; at all events, mine were feelings of delight when watching 
them with never-tiring eyes. The Duke of Argyll, whose powers of observation are of the keenest, and whose 
opinion may always be relied upon, saw, at Inverary, a Raven sporting about in the air, with something strange 
in its bill, which, after a time, it let fall to the ground. On examination, it proved to be the expanded cone 
of a silver fir. However singular this freak of the bird may have been, it was attended with a circum- 
stance of no ordinary interest ; for the cone was covered with a parasitic plant {Phelonites strohilma') 
so extremely rare that few botanists possess it, and there was not a specimen in the British Museum until, 
the Duke having kindly presented the cone to me, I transferred it, with the rare fungus still attached, to the 
national collection. 
