The southern range of the Raven in Asia is not well determined
; but it would seem to occur throughout Thibet, in
the eastern Himalayas (except Sikim) and thence westward to
Kumaon, Ladak, Cashmere, the Punjab, Sind and Affghanis-
tan. It is common in the highlands of Persia, in Armenia,
Anatolia and Palestine. Mr. Wyatt believes that he twice
saw it in flocks near Sinai, hut it does not appear in Egypt,
nor indeed anywhere in Africa. It is reported as inhabiting
Cyprus, Crete and generally the other islands of the
Mediterranean, though Mr. Wright never observed it in Malta.
Throughout the rest of Europe it is more or less numerous.
In the Nearctic Region it ranges from East Greenland to
Oonalaska, and from Cape Lupton, where it was found breeding
by the last Arctic Expedition, to Guatemala, or perhaps
to Honduras (Ibis, 1860, p. 112), but varying greatly
in abundance according to locality. Thus it is more or less
plentiful over the whole of the fur-countries, and as a rule
is more generally distributed throughout the western than
the eastern portion of the North-American continent, for it
is common on the Pacific coast from Sitka to San Diego,
while in New England and some of the Atlantic States it is
very rare. There are districts also of the interior, even to
the southward, in which it is plentiful, as in Arizona, where,
according to Dr. Coues, it is resident; and it seems to he
equally abundant in Texas and on the high plains of Mexico.
Audubon wrote of it as being in some degree migratory in
the United States, but since it was observed to brave the
severity of an arctic winter* in some of the more northern
localities visited by our explorers, the movements noticed by
him are probably limited to the young which, in the New
as in the Old World, are driven away by their parents.-!*
* The rigours of such a w in te r a re curiously exemplified by th e fa c t th a t a t
P o rt Bowen, th e Ravens were freq u en tly observed to h ave a w h ite rin g ab o u t
th e ir neck, caused by th e condensation o f th e ir own b re a th .
f Examples of th e Raven from many ex tra -E u ro p e an co u n trie s have been
specifically sep a ra ted b y some w rite rs from th e tru e Oorvus corax; b u t Mr.
Dresser, a fte r due consideration, reu n ite s most of th em th e re to—th e Ravens of
Africa (0. umbrinus, C. affinis a n d 0. tingitanus), two of which also occur in
South-western Asia, being, however, recognized as distinct.
The beak is black : the irides brown and grey : the whole
plumage black, glossed with steel-blue and purple; the
throat-feathers elongated and pointed, and more lustrous
than those of other parts : legs, toes and claws, black.
The whole length of the male is twenty-six inches. The
wing, from the carpal joint to the tip, seventeen inches and
one-quarter: the first primary four inches shorter than the
second, which Is one inch shorter than the third ; the fourth
a little longer than the third, and the longest in the wing:
the primaries are narrow and pointed, the tertials broad and
rounded. The tail cuneate in form.
The female is smaller than the male ; and her plumage,
as also that of the young before their first moult, has less
metallic lustre.
As was before announced (vol. i. page 263) it is intended
in this Edition only to notice some particular cases of the
partial or total albinism among birds which has been so
frequently observed. White Ravens have been known
from very ancient times, though their rarity was always
admitted, and Aristotle attributed their want of colour to
the season of the year and cold weather. The fact
that pied varieties of the Raven have been described
as forming a distinct species, the Gorvus leucophceus of
Vieillot, makes a few words upon them necessary. They
seem always to have been most numerous in the Fseroes, but
it has long been perfectly well known there that they form
no peculiar race, and that they are most frequently the
progeny of perfectly black parents—a pied bird, or perhaps
a second, being found in a brood, all the rest of which are
normally coloured. The amount of white they display may
vary from a few feathers to the greater part of the plumage,
the toes and claws also being not unfrequently affected in
like manner. Pied Ravens have occasionally occurred in the
British Islands, and Macgillivray mentions one which he saw
in Harris. In some examples, from various countries, the
base of the feathers, especially those of the neck, will he
found to be quite white, without shewing, however, any
trace of it as the plumage lies in its natural position.