Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven.”
Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 3.
And a curious belief is mentioned with regard to the rearing of its young:—
“Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests.”
Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 3.
ALLEGED DESERTION OF YOUNG.
It would appear, from some passages in the sacred Scriptures, that the desertion of their young had not escaped the observation of the inspired writers. It was certainly a current belief in olden times, that when the raven saw its young ones newly hatched, and covered with down, it conceived such an aversion that it forsook them, and did not return to the nest until a darker plumage had shown itself. And to this belief commentators suppose the Psalmist alludes when he says:—“He
giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” (Psalm cxlvii. 9.) And again, in Job, “Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.” (Job xxxviii. 41.)