256 COR 
oions, and not being able to find its way home, difcover- 
eJ on the high road the man who had been ufed to feed it, 
when it hovered over his head, alighted upon his arm, 
and would no more leave him. 
. The raven has wonderful fagacity in fcenting carrion 
from a dift.ince. Thucydides aferibes to it the inftincl of 
abstaining from the carcafes of animals that have died of 
the plague. It has been faid alfo, that a bird of this 
kind, w,anting to drink out of a velfel which was too nar¬ 
row to admit it, had the fhrewdnels to drop into it fmall 
Itones, which by degrees raifed the water to the top. 
This third, if the fait be true, is a circumftance which 
diftinguifhes the raven from all the reft of the birds of 
prey, efpecially from tliofe which feed on live game, 
which are ftimulated by hunger, and never defire but to 
drink blood. Another difference is, that the ravens are 
more focial than the other rapacious birds: but it is 
eafy to account for this ; Once, as they eat every fort of 
food, and have more resources than the reft of the car¬ 
nivorous kind, they can fublift in greater numbers on 
the fame extent, and have not therefore the fame caufes 
of reparation. We may here.obferve, that tame ravens 
feed on all forts of flelh, and thofe in the ftate of liberty 
are fuppofed to make great liavock among the moles 
and field-mice, In the ille of France, ravens are kept 
with a view to deftroy the rats and mice. It is faid that 
the illunds of Bermuda having been ravaged five years 
in fucceflion by a multitude of rats, which devoured 
the plants and trees, and crofted by fwimming, from one 
illand to another; thefe rats fuddenly difappeared, and 
no catife could be affigned, except that a great number 
of ravens had reforted to the iflands, which were never 
been there before or fince. 
Ravens are not birds of paffage ; they feem particu¬ 
larly attached to the rock where they were bred, or ra¬ 
ther where they have paired ; it is their ordinary refi- 
dence, which they never entirely abandon. They choofe, 
in their mountains, a retreat Iheltered from the northern 
blaft, under the natural alcoves fecured by the recedes 
and projedtions of the rocks. Thither they retire dur¬ 
ing the night, to the number of fifteen or twenty. They 
fieep perched on the bulhes that grow between the.rocks, 
and build their nefts in the crevices, or in the holes of 
walls, on the tops of old deferted towers, and fometimes 
on the high branches of large ftruggling trees. Lin- 
na>us fays, that in Sweden the raven neftles chiefly upon 
the pines : and Frifch afferts, that in Germany, they- 
pitch moftly upon the loftieft oaks. Aldrovandus. fays 
they maintain their conjugal engagements fometimes 
forty years together. Each male attaches itfelf to.a fe¬ 
male, which it never deferts. The female is diftinguilh- 
ed from the male, according to Barrere, by its plumage 
being of a lighter black, and her bill weaker. She lays, 
about the month of March, rive or lix eggs, of a bluifh 
green, marked with Ipots and ftreaks of a dirty colour. 
She fits about twenty days* during which - time the male 
provides her food. Thefe birds appear uncommonly ar¬ 
dent in the buiinefs of incubation ; infomuch, that as 
Mr. White relates, in his Natural Hiftory of Selborne, 
they will not be driven from their neft. A pair of ra¬ 
vens had, for a long courfe of years, been accultomed to 
breed in an ancient oak in that village : towards the end 
of February the tree was ordered to be cut down, when 
the birds were fitting : the dam refufed to quit her neft, 
and was crufhed by the fall.__When the young are hatch¬ 
ed, they are far from being of the colour of. their pa¬ 
rents ; they are rather white than black, contrary to the 
wans, which'are originally brown, though deftined to 
wear a inowy plumage. Gelner fed young ravens with 
- raw flelh, fmall fifties, and bread foaked in water. They 
are very fond of cherries, and fwallow them greedily, 
with the Hones and ftalks ; they digeft only the pulpy 
part, and in two hours afterwards return the reft. It is 
alfo faid that they difgorge the bones of thofe animals 
they eat entire, like the keftril, the nocturnal birds of 
V u s. 
prey, the fifhing birds, See. Pliny fays, that the raven 
is fubject every fummer to a periodical diftemper, which 
lulls (ixty days, whofe principal fymptom is exceflive 
thirft : but this is probably nothing but moulting, which 
is more tedious in this bird than in many others of the 
rapacious tribe. 
No perfon feems to have determined the age at which, 
the young ravens acquire their full growth, and are able to 
propagate. If in birds, as in quadrupeds, eaph period of 
life were proportional to the total fpace or exiftence, we 
might fuppofe that the ravens required many years to 
reach their adult ftate ; for, though the venerable age 
aferibed by Hefiod mult he confiderably curtailed, it 
feems well afeertained that this bird fometimes lives a 
century or more. In France they have been known to- 
attain to that period ; and in alt countries and ages they 
have been reckoned as birds extremely long-lived. In 
the decline of life, its plumage lofes the deep colour j 
and in extreme age, changes into grey. But at no time 
is this bird of a pure black, without the intermixture of 
other lhades. The black, which predominates, is min¬ 
gled with violet on the upper part of the body, with ci- 
nerous on the throat, and with greenilli-black under the 
body and on the quills of the tail, and the largeft fea¬ 
thers of the wings and the remoteft of the back. Only 
the feet, the nails, and the bill, are black; and this co¬ 
lour of the bill feems to penetrate to the tongue, as that 
of the feathers appears to tincture the flelh. 
The appetite of the raven, which is reconciled to 
every fort of aliment, proves often its deftruftion, from 
the eafe with which bird-catchers can provide a bait. 
The powder of the mix vomica, which is mortal to fo 
many quadrupeds, is alfo a poifon to the raven ; it is 
benumbed, and drop's foon after eating the dofe; but 
the moment of intoxication mult be feized, for the tor¬ 
por is often only tranfient, and the bird recovers ftrength 
iuflicient to fly away. Like the birds of prey they have 
vigorous wings, extending nearly three feet and a half; 
thefe conlift of twenty quills, of which the two or three 
firft are Ihorter than "tire fourth, which is the longeft of 
all ; and the.middle-one& have a remarkable property, 
viz. that the 'ends, of their Ihafts ftretch beyond the 
vanes, and terminate in points. The tail contains twelve 
quills, which arc about eight inches long, but fomewhat 
unequal, the two middle ones being the longeft, then 
thofe next, fo that the end of the tail appears rounded 
on its horizontal plane. From tire vigour of its wings 
we may infer tire extent of its flight. It is fcattered 
from the polar circle, to the Cape of Good Hope and 
the illand of Madagafcar.; and its number is determined 
by the quantity of food which the various intermediate 
regions lupply, and tire convenience of the fituations 
which they afford. It fometimes ftretches from the coaft 
of Barbary to the illand of. Teneriffe. It is found in 
Mexico, St. Domingo, and Canada, and undoubtedly in 
the other parts of the new continent, and of the. adjacent 
iflands. When it lia.s once fettled in a country', and has 
become accultomed to its fituation, it rarely quits it to 
roam into another. It grows attached to the neft which 
it has.built, and ufes it for feveral years together. 
Its plumage is not the fame in all countries; whence 
we have three varieties of the common rav.en ; the pied, 
tire grilled, and the quite white. Thefe variations are 
induced front the influence of climate. It is fometimes 
entirely white in Norway and Iceland, where numbers 
are alfo black. On the other hand, white ravens are 
found in the heart of France and Germany, in nefts 
where fonre are likewife black. The raven weighs three 
pounds, and is twenty-fix inches long. In the-northern 
countries of Finmark, Iceland, and Greenland, it fre¬ 
quents the huts of the natives, feeds upon the offals of 
feals, and alfo devours birds eggs. It whirls dexteroully. 
in the air, and changes its preyTrom bill to feet, for re¬ 
lief. It replies to the echo of its own croak. The male 
fits by day, and the female by night. On the approach 
