80 
THE RAVEN. 
are hatched, and fed upon meat, snails, and earth worms; they 
are also accustomed to eat bread and roll steeped in milk. 
The description of food they seek, when at large, as young 
hares, birds, eggs, mice, young geese, chickens, snails, pears, 
cherries, &c., renders them partly injurious and partly 
beneficial. 
This bird can be allowed to run at large, or fly about, and if 
reared from the nest, which must be the case if he is to be 
taught to speak, he will return to the place of feeding, upon 
calling him Jack , the name he usually bears. All glittering 
metal, especially gold, must be hidden from him, or he, like 
some other bipeds, will carry it off. To facilitate his speaking, 
or to give his tongue greater freedom, which is necessary for 
articulate sounds, the tongue chord is sometimes loosened with 
the view of increasing or heightening his powers of speech. 
Individuals, however, have been heard to speak with an un¬ 
loosened tongue. The raven is naturally a long-lived bird, 
individuals having been known to live upwards of one 
hundred years. 
A 
