Length -- 26 to 27 inches. Nearly three times as large as a
robin.
Male and Female -- Glossy black above, with purplish and greenish
reflections. Duller underneath. Feathers of the throat and
breast long and loose, like fringe.
Range -- North America, from polar regions to Mexico. Rare along
Atlantic coast and in the south. Common in the west, and very
abundant in the northwest.
Migrations -- An erratic wanderer, usually resident where it
finds its way.
The weird, uncanny voice of this great bird that soars in wide circles above
the evergreen trees of dark northern forests seems to come out of the skies
like the malediction of an evil spirit. Without uttering the words of any
language -- Poe's "Nevermore" was, of course, a poetic license -- people of
all nationalities appear to understand that some dire calamity, some wicked
portent, is being announced every time the unbirdlike creature utters its
rasping call. The superstitious folk crow with an "I told you so," as they
solemnly wag their heads when they hear, of some death in the village after
"the bird of ill-omen" has made an unwelcome visit to the neighborhood--it
receives the blame for every possible misfortune.
When seen in the air, the crow is the only other bird for which the raven
could be mistaken; but the raven does more sailing and less flapping, and he
delights in describing circles as he easily soars high above the trees. On the
ground, he is seen to be a far larger bird than the largest crow. The curious
beard or fringe of feathers on his breast at once distinguishes him.
These birds show the family instinct for living in flocks large and small, not
of ravens only, but of any birds of their own genera. In the art of nest
building they could instruct most of their relatives. High up in evergreen
trees or on the top of cliffs, never very near the seashore, they make a
compact, symmetrical nest of sticks, neatly lined with grasses and wool from
the sheep pastures, adding soft, comfortable linings to the old nest from year
to year for each new brood. When the young emerge from the eggs, which take
many curious freaks of color and markings, they are pied black and white,
suggesting the young of the western white-necked raven, a similarity which, so
far as plumage is concerned, they quickly outgrow. They early acquire the
fortunate habit of eating whatever their parents set before them
-- grubs, worms, grain, field-mice; anything, in fact, for the raven is a
conspicuously omnivorous bird.