236 
CORVUS CORAX. 
but by the appetite for carnage ; for it can subsist on 
fruits, seed 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 roman- 
cing author. 
This species is found almost all over the habitable 
globe. We trace it in the north from Norway to Green- 
land, and hear of it in Kamtschatka. It is common 
every where in Russia and Siberia, except within the 
Arctic circle;* 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 
usefulness ; J and the unfortunate La Perouse saw them 
at Baie de Castries, on the east coast of Tartary ; like- 
wise at Port des Francois, 58° 37' north latitude, and 
139° 50' west longitude; and at Monterey Bay, North 
California. $ The English circumnavigators met with 
them at Nootka Sound ; || and at the Sandwich Islands, 
two being seen in the village of Kakooa ; also at 
Owhyhee, and supposed to be adored there, as they were 
called Eatooas. IF Our intrepid American travellers, 
under the command of Lewis and Clark, shortly after 
they embarked on the Columbia river, saw abundance 
of ravens, which were attracted thither by the immense 
quantity of dead salmon which lined the shores.** 
They are found at all seasons at Hudson’s Bay ; are 
frequent in Mexico and it is more than probable 
that they inhabit the whole continent of America. 
The raven measures, from the tip of the bill to the 
end of the tail, twenty-six inches, and is four feet in 
extent ; the bill is large and strong, of a shining black, 
notched near the tip, and three inches long ; the ceta- 
ceous feathers which cover the nostrils extend half its 
* Latliam. f Medley’s Kolben, vol. ii, p. 136. 
| Voy. in the Indian Ocean, p. 148. 
§ Voy. par I. F. G. De la Perouse, ii, p. 129. 203. 443. 
|| Cook’s last voy. ii, p. 236. Am. ed. 
Idem, iii, p. 329. ** Gass’s Journal, p. 153. 
ff Charlevoix. Kalm. Hearne’s Journey. Fernandez. 
