From time immemorial the Raven’s croak has been supposed to predict a death ; and many a timid 
family has been rendered melancholy by the sound of its hoarse voice in the neighbourhood of their dwelling 
during the sickness of one of its inmates. 
“ As doth the Raven o’er the infected house, 
Boding to all.” Othello, Act iv. Sc. i. 
“ Ravens 
Fly o’er our heads and downward look on us. 
As we were sickly prey.” Julius Caesar, Act v. Sc. 3. 
“ Some powerful spirit instruct the Kites and Ravens 
To be thy nurses.” Winter’s Tale, Act ii. Sc. 3. 
The Raven is omnivorous, and will eat grain, fruit, and berries, maritime and inland worms, mollusks 
of the salt and fresh waters, dead fish, and carrion of all kinds, young hares and rabbits, eggs and young 
birds (both those which breed on the ground and those which rest among the rocks ; and a dead cetacean 
cast on the shore becomes the point of attraction to all the Ravens in the neighbourhood. 
The Raven breeds very early — the nest being prepared in February, and the young hatched by the end of 
March. Now he seeks his prey on the sea-sides or the margins of estuaries and lochs, or resorts to fields 
for worms like the Common Crow and the Rook. Shepherds tell us that a number of Ravens will combine 
and take out the eyes of a cast sheep, and that sickly lambs are sure to be attacked unless they are 
carefully looked after. 
Dr. Lawrence Edmonstone has given some interesting details respecting the bird as seen in Shetland, and 
some curious information respecting the use to which it was put by the ancient Scandinavian mariners. It 
not only served them as a nautical pioneer, hut the Raven was the sacred standard of the great Odin : for 
these particulars, however, I must refer my readers to Macgillivray’s ‘ History of British Birds,’ vol. iii. 
pp. 712, etc. 
After alluding to the persecuted life led by the Raven in this country, Mr. Hewitson states tiiat “ in 
Norway, where the feathered tribes are loved and cherished, they so abound that we at one time counted 
as many as eighteen together. There they are pert and confident, and would frequently remain quietly 
seated till we had passed them at the distance of a few yards. On one island we saw several of their nests 
in a large sepulchral-looking cave, peculiarly suitable to the residence of birds which in some districts are 
regarded as of ill omen. At home the Raven breeds in the most wild and inaccessible districts, building 
its nest for the most part in the steepest cliffs upon the sea-coast, sometimes, when inland, upon lofty trees. 
They have for a great many years been known to breed in the Mausoleum at Castle Howard, in Yorkshire. 
The nest is large, and composed of sticks plastered together with mud, and lined with a quantity of roots, 
wool, and the fur of animals. The eggs are four or five in number, and are subject to much variety, — some 
being of a dark greenish olive, blotched all over with irregular and various-sized marks of dark brown ; 
while others are of a pale greenish blue, streaked all over, but particularly at the larger end, with pale red ; 
and between these there are two or three varieties, some being distinctly and more sparingly spotted, and 
resembling somewhat the eggs of the Jackdaw. 
“Mr. Newton has sent me the following graphical notes : — ‘ A pair of these birds breed annually in the 
neighbourhood of Elveden Hall, in Norfolk. When undisturbed they have usually refurnished their last 
year’s nest, always lining it neatly with rabbits’ down. It is built on one of several lofty Scotch fir trees 
standing far out on a heath. The number of eggs laid is generally five, but I have known them to be content 
with four, while six were once deposited. While the hen is sitting, the actions of the male bird are well 
worth watching. He dashes indiscriminately at any bird that approaches, be it Stock-Dove or Peregrine 
Falcon, and, when the intruder has been utterly routed, shoots back to the nest, celebrating his victory by 
a sonorous croak, turning as he utters it cotnpletely on his back — an action which does not, however, in the 
least degree impede his onward career. He then resumes his look-out station on one of the highest boughs, 
perhaps leaving it again at the expiration of a few minutes to repel another invasion.’ ” 
In the Faroe Islands and in Iceland the Raven is subject to variety, and many pied examples are met 
with : these were considered to be by Vlelllot distinct, and named by him leucophcsus ; but they must only 
be regarded as varieties. 
The accompanying figure represents a male about two-thirds of the natural size, on a branch of the spruce- 
fir {Abies excelsior'). 
