44 
XNSESSORES. 
breast are bright yellow; the throat being crossed 
with a broad crescent -shaped band of velvety 
black. 
We must now leave these “ creatures of music and 
of song,” and listen for a while to the cawings of a 
ruder class, such as the Raven, Crow, Magpie, and 
Jay, among which, however, we shall find much to 
interest and instruct us. 
Of the Crow family the Raven is the most promi- 
nent on account of its size, as well as its many sin- 
gular qualities. From very early ages it has been 
regarded with reverence and awe by the superstitious, 
as being possessed of something unearthly in its 
nature; in heathen 
countries, especially, 
it has been looked 
upon by both priests 
and people as a fore- 
teller of events. In 
some of the Indian 
tribes of North Ame- 
rica, their priests 
wear, as a mark of 
their sacred profes- 
sion, two or three Ra- 
ven skins affixed to 
the girdle behind the 
back, in such a man- 
ner that the tails 
Raven. stick out horizontal- 
ly from the body. They have also a split Raven skin 
