The silver wreath of May.

—Charlotte Smith.

FROM COL. F. KAEMPFER.RAVEN.
⅓ Life-size.		COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO.

THE RAVEN.
(Corvus Corax.)

THIS handsome and truly interesting bird is found in nearly all portions of the globe wherever there are wide expanses of uncultivated ground. It is a solitary bird, living in the wildest places it can find, especially preferring those that are intersected with hills. In such localities it is said the raven reigns supreme, "scarcely the eagle himself daring to contest the supremacy with so powerful, crafty, and strong-beaked a bird."

The raven lives almost entirely on food of an animal nature, and there are few living things which it will not eat when the opportunity is given it. Worms, grubs, caterpillars, and insects of all kinds are swallowed by hundreds, though carrion is its chief diet. Its wings are large and powerful, and its daily range of flight is so extensive that many hundreds of objects pass under its ken, and it is tolerably sure, in the course of the day, to find at least one dead sheep or lamb. So strongly is the desire for attacking wounded or dying animals implanted in the breast of the raven, that, according to Mudie, the best method of attracting one of these birds within gunshot is to lie on the back on some exposed part of a hill with the gun concealed and close at hand. It is needful to remain perfectly quiet, because if there is the slightest sign of life the raven will not approach, for, as Mudie rather quaintly observes, "he is shy of man and of all large animals in nature; because, though glad to find others carrion, or to make carrion of them if he can do it with impunity, he takes good care that none shall make carrion of him." It is needful to watch carefully, and not to be overcome by sleep, as the first intimation of the raven's approach would to a certainty be the loss of an eye.

The tongue of the raven is rather curiously formed, being broad, flat, covered with a horny kind of shield, and deeply cleft at the extremity. At the root are four rather large projections or spines, the points being directed backward. The use of the spines is not known.