[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS upwards of two feet in length, and above four in breadth. His weight is about three pounds. The bill is strong, black, and hooked. The plumage of the whole body of a shining black, glossed with deep blue; yet the black of the belly inclines to a dusky colour. He is of a strong and hardy disposition, and inhabits all climates of the globe. He builds his nest in trees; and the female lays five or six eggs of a palish green colour, spotted with brown. The life of this bird extends to a century, and above, if we can believe the accounts of several naturalists on the subject. The Raven unites the voracious appetite of the Crow, to the dishonesty of the Daw, and the docility of almost every other bird. He possesses many diverting and mischievous qualities; he is active, curious, sagacious and impudent; by nature a glutton, by habit a thief, in disposition a miser, and in practice a rogue. He is fond of picking up any small piece of money, bits of glass, or any thing that shines, and conceals it carefully under the eaves of roofs, or any other inaccessible places. This propensity, which he shares with the crow, the magpie, and the daw, is the more inexplicable and astonishing, as the object of his cupidity is of no sort of use to him. He is easily tamed, and may be instructed, like the hawk, for the diversion of the chace. He fetches and carries like the spaniel; and, like the parrot, can imitate the human voice. He was the armorial bearing of the Danish kings of old; and is mentioned in the Scripture, where his young are represented claiming support from the hand of their Creator.
