which I extract an account from DRAYTON'S Views of South Carolina.
" The Table Mountain is the most distinguished of all the eminences of
the State. Its height exceeds 3000 feet, and thirty farms may be discerned
at any one view from its top by the unaided eye. Its side is an
abrupt precipice of solid rock, 300 feet deep, and nearly perpendicular.
The valley underneath appears to be as much below the level as the top
of the mountain towers above it. This precipice is called the Lover's
Leap. To those who are in the valley, it looks like an immense wall
stretching u p to heaven, and the awe which it inspires is considerably increased
by the quantities of bones which lie whitening at its base,—the
remains of various animals which had incautiously approached too near
its edge. Its summit is often enveloped in clouds. The gradual ascent
of the country from the sea-coast to this western extremity of the State,
added to the height of this mountain, must place its top more than 4000
feet above the level of the Atlantic Ocean; an eminence from which vessels
crossing the bar of Charleston might be seen with the aid of such improved
glasses as are now in use. Large masses of snow tumble from the side of
this mountain in the winter season, the fall of which has been heard seven
miles. Its summit is the resort of deer and bears. The woods produce
mast in abundance; wild pigeons resort to it in such numbers as sometimes
to break the limbs of trees on which they alight."
A friend of mine, who is an excellent observer of the habits of birds,
has told me that he saw a Raven's nest in the high lands of New York
placed in a deep fissure of a rock, in the immediate vicinity of that of a
Golden Eagle. I chanced one day, while in the Great Pine Forest of
Pennsylvania, to stop, for the purpose of resting and refreshing myself,
at a camp of the good JEDIAH IRISH, with whom I have already made
you acquainted during my former rambles in that remarkable district.
We had seen some Ravens that day, and our conversation returning to
them, the person employed in preparing the food of the woodcutters told
us, that whenever she chanced to place a salt mackerel or other fish in
the brook running from the spring near the camp, " the Raven was sure
to carry it away in less than an hour." She firmly believed that it had
the power of smelling the fish as she carried it from the hut to the water.
We went to the spot with her, and, leaving a fish there, returned to our
homely meal, but on visiting the place several hours after, we found it
untouched. " The Raven perhaps smelt the powder in our guns !" At
all events, it did not choose to come that day.
The flesh of this bird is tough and unfit for food, but this indicates
its great strength. When wounded, it bites severely, and scratches with
its claws as fiercely as a Hawk. Like the latter also, it disgorges indigestible
substances, as bones, hair, and feathers.
I have represented a very old male Raven on a branch of the Shellbark
Hickory; not because the bird alights on any particular kind of
tree by preference, but because I thought you might be interested in seeing
so fruitful a branch of that valuable ornament of our forests.
Mix—(Sacd pji .ta ^nrrraJifíw aü aotrfw aonod lo &)i3ha&np odi ^cf boguoio
Coavus CORAX, Linn. Syst. Nat. voL i. p. 155—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 150.
Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 56—Swains, and Richards.
Fauna Boreali-Americ. part ii. p. 290—Lath. Gen. Synops. vol. i. p. 367-
RAVEN, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ix. p. 113, pi. 75, fig. 3.—Nuttall, Manual, part i.
p. 202.
Old Male. Plate C I .
Bill longish, thick, robust, somewhat compressed; upper mandible
with the dorsal line arched and declínate, the sides convex ; lower mandible
straight, the sides inclined obliquely outwards ; the edges of both
sharp, the tip slightly deflected. Nostrils basal, lateral, round, covered
by bristly feathers, which are directed forwards. Head large, neck short,
body robust. Legs of moderate length, strong ; tarsus covered anteriorly
with scutella, shorter than the middle toe; toes scutellate above, separated
almost to the base; first, second, and fourth primaries nearly equal in
\> • ^ " rJJDOT fi xo oiuíííirr CTOO.O JJ. ÍIJ hoot*\cr
length, third longest; claws moderate, arched, acute, compressed, channelled
beneath.
Plumage compact, highly glossed. Stiff, bristly feathers, with disunited
barbs over the nostrils, directed forwards and adpressed. Feathers
of the hind neck with disunited barbs, of the fore part of the neck elongated,
lanceolated, and pointed. Wings long, first primary short, fourth
longest; primaries tapering, the third, fourth, and fifth, cut out towards
the end externally; secondaries very broad, the outer abrupt with a minute
acumen, the inner rounded. Tail rather long, rounded, of twelye slightly
recurved feathers.
"TjrjinT9nj moil t i borne;) orfa gfi rfaft <,.jr i : > ,,,
Beak, tarsi, toes and claws, deep black and shining. Iris brown. The
general colour of the plumage is deep black, with purple reflections above,
greenish below. Tints of green on the back, quills, and tail. Breast and
belly browned, with green reflections, and a slight mixture of purple tints.