CROWS AND ROOKS. 
189 
wear, as a distinguishing* mark of their sacred profession, 
two or three Eaven- skins, fixed to the girdle behind their 
back, in such a manner that the tails stick out horizon- 
tally from the body. They have also a split Eaven-skin 
on the head, so fastened as to let the beak project from the 
forehead. 
That birds, if entirely unmolested, will become tame and 
fearless, has been frequently noticed. During Captain Back’s 
Arctic expedition, two Eavens appeared as his earliest visitors, 
announcing the approach of Spring ; he would not suffer 
them to be disturbed, and in a few days they consequently 
became so familiar as scarcely to move ten paces when any 
one passed them : they were the only living things, he adds, 
that held communion with the party, and it was a plea- 
sure to see them gambol in their glossy plumage on the 
white snow. 
CEOWS AND EOOKS. 
People who live in towns, or pay little attention to these 
matters, would no doubt consider the above-mentioned birds 
as one and the same, alike as they are in size and colour, 
and seen, as they usually are, spread over our fields, or 
uttering their well-known cawings on the top of some hedge. 
They are, however, as distinct in their characters and habits 
as a hare and a rabbit. The real Crow, commonly called the 
Carrion Crow (Corvus cor one), is the next link in the chain 
after the Eaven, which it resembles far more nearly than it 
does the Eook. The male and his mate, for example, 
seldom associate with the rest of their species, except, as we 
shall show by-and-by, for particular purposes, but generally 
remain in pairs. Their favourite food, too, like the Eaven, 
is carrion, and they will watch their opportunity, and pounce 
down on young lambs, or even sheep, when they find them 
what is called cast, — that is, thrown upon their backs in a 
furrow, and unable to rise. In these cases, the eye is the 
point which they first attack ; but smaller living prey they 
will also attempt to carry off, to be devoured at leisure. A 
