and this he renders still more melancholy by his dismal croak : thus Lady Macbeth says, on the news of Duncan's approach.
"The raven himself is hoarse,
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements."
In its feeding it is much less dainty than the owl : the most filthy carrion, or even human flesh, affording it a sumptuous banquet. A most graphic description of the distressed state of an army, and of the ravens lurking after it to feed upon the dead, is given in 'Henry the 5th.'
"Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,
Ill favour'dly become the morning field :
Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,
And our air shakes them passing scornfully.
And their executors, the knavish crows.
Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour."
And then comes, in 'Macbeth' the story of their powers of augury and discovery of evil.
"Blood will have blood :
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak ;
Augurs and understood relations, have
By magpies, choughs and rooks brought forth.
The secret'st man of blood."
Without entering into the merits of these qualifications, it is certain that the Picae are more sagacious and exhibit a greater amount of intelligence than any other birds. The tricks they acquire, as well as the articulation of words and sentences, by moderate tuition, is truly surprising. Added to this, most of the tribe have a remarkably cun- ning expression of the eye, and there can be little doubt that these circumstances, combined with its sombre plumage and gloomy habits, have originally gained for the raven the reputation it enjoys as an augur and prognosticator of events to come.
The bird which next claims our attention is the Cuckoo, and the fol- lowing lines descriptive of its appearance occur in 'Love's Labour Lost.'
"When daisies pied and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver white.
And cuckoo-buds pf yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree.
Mocks married men, for thus sings he;
Cuckoo !
Cuckoo ! cuckoo ! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear."
