279 
RAVEN. 
CORVUS CORAX. 
[Plate LXXV.— Fig. 3.] 
Gmel. Syst. 1, p. 364. — Ind, Om. p. 150. — Le Corbeau, Briss. 2, p. 8, et z;ar.— B uff. Ois. 
3,j&. 13. PLenl. 495.— Temm. Man. d^Orn.p. \Qn.— Raven, Lath. Gen. Syn. l,/». 
367. Id. sup. p. 74. — Penn. Brit. Zool. No. 74. Arct. Zool. No. 134. — Shaw, Gen. 
Zool 7, p. 341. — Bewick, 1, /». 100. — Low, Fauna Oreaden^s^ p. 45. — Peale’s 
Museum^ No. 175. 
A KNOWLEDGE of this celebrated bird has been handed 
down to us from the earliest ages; and its history is almost coeval 
with that of man. In the best and most ancient of all books, we 
learn that at the end of forty days after the great flood had covered 
the earth, Noah, wishing to ascertain whether or not the waters 
had abated, sent forth a Raven, which did not return into the ark.* 
This is the first notice that is taken of this species. Though the 
Raven was declared unclean by the law of Moses, yet we are in- 
formed that when the prophet Elijah provoked the enmity of Ahab, 
by prophesying against him, and hid himself by the brook Cherith, 
the Ravens were appointed by Heaven to bring him his daily food.f 
The colour of the Raven gave rise to a similitude in one of the 
most beautiful of eclogues, which has been perpetuated in all sub- 
sequent ages, and which is not less pleasing for being trite or pro- 
verbial. The favourite of the royal lover of Jerusalem, in the en- 
thusiasm of affection, thus describes the object of her adoration, in 
reply to the following question : 
What is thy beloved more than another beloved, 
O thou fairest among women 
* Genesis, viii, 7. 
t 1 Kings, xvii, 5, 6. 
