RAVEN. 
249 
not excepting the most putrid carrion, which it devours in 
common with the vultures ; worms, grubs, reptiles, and shell- 
fish, the last of which, in the manner of the crow, it drops 
from a considerable height in the air on the rocks, in order to 
break the shells ; it is fond of bird’s eggs, and is often obsei* * * § - 
ved sneaking around the farm-house in search of the eggs of 
the domestic poultry, which it sucks with eagerness ; it is like- 
wise charged with destroying young ducks and chickens, and 
lambs which have been yeaned in a sickly state. The raven, 
it is said, follows the hunters of deer for the purpose of falling 
heir to the olfal ; * and the huntsmen are obliged to cover 
their game, when it is left in the woods, with their hunting 
frocks, to protect it from this thievish connoisseur, who, if he 
have an opportunity, will attack the region of the kidneys, 
and mangle the saddle without ceremony. 
Buffon says, that the raven plucks out the eyes of buffaloes, 
and then, fixing on the hack, it tears off the fiesh deliberately ; 
and what renders the ferocity more detestable, it is not incited 
by the cravings of hunger, but by the appetite for carnage ; for 
it can subsist on fruits, seeds of all kinds, and indeed may be 
considered as an omnivorous animal.” This is mere fable, and 
of a piece with many other absurdities of the same romancing 
author. 
This species is found almost all over the habitable globe. 
We trace it in the north from Norway to Greenland, and hear 
of it in Kamtschatka. It is common every where in Russia 
and Siberia, except within the Arctic circle ;j- and all through 
Europe. Kolben enumerates the raven among the birds of the 
Cape of Good Hope; J De Grandpre represents it as numerous 
in Bengal, where they are said to be protected for their use- 
fulness ; § and the unfortunate La Perouse saw them at Bale 
* This is the case in those parts of the United States where the deer are hunted 
without dogs ; where these are employed, they are generally rewarded with the 
offal. 
•j- Latham. Medley’s Kolben^ vol. ii. p. 136. 
§ Voy. in the Indian Ocean^ p. 14-8. 
