. A dictionary of birds . their successors: Raven. (After Swamson.) , ., . , ,., . , i while it must have likewise attendedthe earliest herdsmen, who could not have regarded it with equalindifference, since its now notorious character for attacking andputting to death a weakly animal was doubtless in those daysmanifested. Yet the Raven is no mere dependent upon man,being always able to get a living for itself; and moreover asentiment of veneration or superstition has from very remoteages and among many races of men attached to it—a sentimentso strong as often to overcome the feeling of distrus
. A dictionary of birds . their successors: Raven. (After Swamson.) , ., . , ,., . , i while it must have likewise attendedthe earliest herdsmen, who could not have regarded it with equalindifference, since its now notorious character for attacking andputting to death a weakly animal was doubtless in those daysmanifested. Yet the Raven is no mere dependent upon man,being always able to get a living for itself; and moreover asentiment of veneration or superstition has from very remoteages and among many races of men attached to it—a sentimentso strong as often to overcome the feeling of distrust notto say of hatred which its deeds inspired, and, though rapidlydecreasing, even to survive in some places until the present time.^ See A7171. and Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, xx. pp. 499, 500. - There is no need to dwell on the assoeiation of this bird Avith -well-knowncharaeters of history sacred or profane—Noah or Elijah, Odin or Flokki, thelast of whom by its means discovered Iceland. The Raven is even said to have. RA VEN 767 Notwithstanding all this, however, the Raven has now fallen uponevil days. The reverence with which it was once regarded has allbut vanished, and has been very generally succeeded by persecu-tion, which in many districts has produced actual extirpation, sothat it is threatened with extinction, save in the wildest and mostunpeopled districts.^ The Raven breeds very early in the year, in England resortingto its nest, which is usually an ancient if not an ancestral structure,about the middle or towards the end of January. Therein arelaid from five to seven eggs of the common Corvine coloration,and the young are hatched before the end of February. In morenorthern countries the breeding-season is naturally delayed, buteverywhere this species is almost if not quite the earliest of birdsto enter upon the business of perpetuating its kind. The Ravenmeasures about 26 inches in length, and has an expanse of wingconsiderably exceeding a yard. Its bill and feet
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlyde, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds
