THE EAVEN. 
725 
seize on shell-fish and tortoises, and, bearing them aloft, 
drop them on the rocks so as to break their shells, and thus 
is enabled to enjoy the contents, without which expedient 
it would be minus its dinner. The pursuit of the Raven 
is one of the most difficult and tantalizing that we have: 
it laughs at human intelligence; it meets the artifice of 
man with greater artifice; his cunning with superior 
cunning. It is well acquainted with the aspect of the 
harmless ploughman, and equally so with the sportsman, 
let him appear ever so innocent; and on this account it 
approaches the former fearlessly, while it never fails to 
discover the latter in any disguise that he may choose to 
adopt. 
The every-day life and domestic economy of the 
Corvidae is very interesting to the impartial observer, 
who knows how to estimate it at its true value. They 
belong to those birds whose notes are the first one hears 
in the early morning. By sunrise they are in full activity, 
and remain so till mid-day, when they retire to drink, 
while at the same time any small fish or aquatic animal, 
which they may happen to find in shoal-water, is not 
overlooked, nor is it despised, for they will continue 
to feed as long as there is anything to eat. In the 
height of summer they take their siesta during the 
hottest hours of the day; and in the winter they assemble 
on the tops of trees and hold a palaver, while the process 
of digestion is going on. In the afternoon they return to 
their labours ; towards sun-down they take their evening 
drink, and then retire to roost. 
The Raven is at the same time the type and head of 
the family,—the representative, of the Corvidae; not that 
it is not known by any other name, for in Germany its 
names are legion, a richness in nomenclature, descriptive 
