Raven, or Corvus corax, L. a well-known British bird, about two feet in length, and weighing in general three pounds : it much resembles a crow, but is of a blacker colour, finely glossed with a rich blue.

The raven is a very docile bird, and may be trained to fowling like hawks ; to fetch and carry smail objects in a manner similar to spaniels ; it may also be taught to prattle like a parrot, and to imitate the human voice in singing.-The" female constructs her nest in high trees, early in the spring, laying from 3 to 6 eggs of a pale bluish-green colour, with brown spots.

Ravens are proverbially addicted to theft, often secreting coins, silver spoons, and other glittering substances. They frequent the vi-cinity of great towns, where they devour carcasses and impurities, which would otherwise prove a nuisance. Notwithstanding these useful services, they frequently occasion havoc among hares, rabbits, geese, ducks, chickens, and young lambs which have been dropped in. a weak state.- Their note is dismal ; their scent remarkably acute, and they are, by some authors, sup-posed to attain the age of 100 years.

The flesh of ravens, though rank and unsavoury, is eaten by the Greenlanders, who also employ the feathered skins as a warm un-der-covering.—The quills of these birds are likewise of service in drawing, writing, and especially to mu-sical instrument makers, for giving melody to the lower notes of harp-sichords ; for which purpose, they are often sold at the price of 12s. per hundred.

There is a simple method of taking ravens pra6tised on the Continent : A strong sheet of paper is turned in the form of a sugar-loaf; the inside of which must be smeared with bird-lime, and a small piece of meat fastened to the narrow part of the cone.- Another stratagem is employed, by exposing" oblong slices of animal flesh in a semi-putrid state, with small fish-hooks concealed in the middle, and connected with a strong line, which is covered with snow or moss, and attached to a tree, or otherwise secured.

A larger and more palatable species of these birds, is the Wood-Raves (Corvus graculus), which attains the size of a full-grown cock; builds nests on mountains, towers, and within the crevices of rocks ; whence its young are taken with great danger to the pursuers, and dressed for the table of epicures.