204 
OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 
streaming from the extremity of his bill/* a natural, 
though extraordinary phenomenon, sufficient to terrify 
the superstitious, and to stamp the harmless subject of it 
with the imaginary traits and attributes of a demon. 
In ancient times when divination made a part of reli- 
gion, the Raven, though a bad prophet, was yet a very 
interesting bird ; for the passion for prying into future 
events, even the most dark and sorrowful, is an original 
propensity of human nature ; accordingly, all the actions 
of this sombre bird, all the circumstances of its flight, 
and all the different intonations of its discordant voice, 
of which, no less than 64 were remarked, had each of 
them an appropriate signification ; and there were never 
wanting impostors to procure this pretended intelligence, 
nor people simple enough to credit it. Some even went 
so far, as to impose upon themselves, by devouring the 
heart and entrails of the disgusting Raven, in the strange 
hope of thus appropriating its supposed gift of proph- 
ecy. f 
The Raven indeed not only possesses a great many nat- 
ural inflections of voice, corresponding to its various feel- 
ings, but it has also a talent for imitating the cries of 
other animals, and even mimicking language. Accord- 
ing to Buffon, colas is a word which he pronounces with 
peculiar facility. Connecting circumstances with his 
wants, Scaliger heard one, which when hungry, learnt 
very distinctly to call upon Conrad the cook. The first 
of these words bears a great resemblance to one of the 
ordinary cries of this species, Icowallah , kowallah. Be- 
sides possessing, in some measure, the faculty of imitating 
human speech, they are at times, capable of manifesting 
a durable attachment to their keeper, and become famil- 
* Scala Naturalis, apud Aldrovand. tom. i. page. 704. 
t Porphyr. De abslinendo ab animant. Lib. ii. 
