THE 64 RAVENS, POOR FELLOWS ! ” 93 
very sympathetic passage with regard to the raven 
occurs:— 
“ It is now beginning to get dusky. The croak 
of the raven seems to warn us of the approach of 
night. Poor bird ! He has little cause to harbour 
friendly feelings towards us; for fearful has been 
the persecution which he and his race have suffered, 
if not at our hands, yet at those of our kindred. 
Very seldom now is a raven to be met with, even in 
this wild track of mountain and glen : gamekeepers 
and sheep farmers with guns and traps have left but 
a very scanty residue of a once prosperous and 
respectable race. ... It is indeed a rare pleasure 
to hear the barking and yelping of that distant bird 
which from the red crags to the right calls aloud 
to his mate, perched behind us on that rugged 
ridge. ” 
Here is another passage of tender sympathetic 
feeling with regard to the ravens at Loch Tulloch, 
from the same book :— 
“ The path leads along the base of the furrowed 
and stony declivities, which are of granite, coarse 
and reddish, like that of the opposite side. All 
along this passage, it was very pleasant to hear the 
ravens, in the crags of the opposite side, talking to 
each other in a great variety of accents, one answer¬ 
ing the call of another. Poor fellows ! If the glen 
were mine, I would give strict orders not to 
molest them, for next to the eagle, now altogether 
destroyed, the raven is the greatest ornament of 
such a scene. They continued croaking, barking, 
and yelping at a great rate until I had passed the 
end of the rock.” 
Indeed there was no bird to be found in all his 
