3 86 
The Hifiory of A N I M A L 3. 
Corvus ater. 
The wholly black Corvus . 3 RO 0 tf > 
This is fomewhat fmaller than the raven, though a large bird 5 It is equal in fize to 
the biggeft of our tame pigeons : the head is fmall, and fomewhat flatted on the crown, 
but rounded at the fides: the eyes are large, but not very bright and piercing • the 
beak is moderately long and pointed ; it is of a brownifh-black colour, but toward 
the bafe it is often whitifh; it is naturally covered there with a kind of fhort bridles, 
but, in thrufling the beak into the ground in fearch of worms and other food, thefe 
are frequently rubbed off, and the naked fcull appears whitifh : the noftrils are round, 
and ftand at fome little diftance from one another ; the tongue is long, thick and 
whitifh, and is bifid at the end. 
The head, neck, and the whole body are of a deep glofly black, without any tinge 
of bluifh : the long feathers in each wing are twenty j of thefe, the fourth from the 
verge is the longefl: the fcapi of the fmaller remiges, in the middle of the wing, ter¬ 
minate in a kind of fpines or fhort bridles: the tail is moderately long, and is com- 
pofed of twelve feathers, the outer ones of which are fomewhat fmaller than the mid¬ 
dle ones: the whole bird is of a deep black colour. 
The legs are robuft, and moderately long; the toes alfo are long, and armed with 
flrong and fharp claws j but the claw of the hinder toe is much larger and ftrono-er 
than thofe of the others, and the outer of the three anterior toes adheres for fome fpace 
to the middle one. 
This is very frequent in all the northern parts of Europe 5 with us, it builds in high 
trees, and that. frequently about houfes, where it was once a cuftom to encourage 
them, as the noife in the building-time was thought very pleafing. It feeds promif- 
cuoufly on animal and vegetable fubftances; fruits are the principal food, but it eats 
alfo worms and other infedts. 
The bufinefs of building the neft and hatching the young is carried on mutually by 
the male and female j the one fits on the eggs as well as the other, and, in the fabri¬ 
cating of the nefl, the one keeps pofleffion, while the other goes to get the materials 
for finifhing it, otherwife the neighbouring ones fleal away every thing that is left to 
aflift in their own. This bird, though encouraged in it’s produce by the gentlemen, 
is mifchievous in a very great degree to the farmers, and they are at a great expence to 
drive them from their fields. 
Corvus ater oculis magnis, naribus fetls reflexis 
obte&is . %l)t Carnots 
The black Corvus , with large eyes , and reflex C?0tb* 
briftles at the noftrils . 
This is of the fize of the largeft tame pigeon, and is all over of a deep and fine 
black colour: the head is fmall, and fomewhat flatted on the crown ; the eyes are 
large, and of a very piercing afpedt: the beak is long and robuft, and of a blackifh 
colour 5 and the tongue is hard, firm, and divided at the extremity. 
The wings are very large $ they meafure more than two feet from tip to tip, when 
extended : the long feathers of each are twenty; the three firft of thefe are gradually 
ihorter than the fourth ; this is the longefl: of all, arjd from it the others gradually 
fhorten again : the legs are long, and moderately robuft ; the toes are long and ftrong, 
and the claws are long, black, and fharp : the noftrils are fmall and oval j they are 
placed in the upper part of the membrane, which covers the bafe of the beak, and 
are covered with fhort and crooked briftles. 
This 
