passing over sheep, if a tainted smell is perceptible, they cry vehemently. From this propensity in the raven to announce his satisfaction in the smell of death, has probably arisen the common notion that he is aware of its approach among the human race, and foretells it by his croakings. I have no doubt the idea is founded in truth, al though I think the coming event is not communicated to the raven by any immediate or supernatural impulse, but that in passing over a human habitation from which a sickly or cadaverous smell may escape, it is perfectly natural for him to announce his perception of it by his cries. Shakspeare, however, takes a different view from this, and represents the raven as being seized with an immediate and supernatural impulse in foreshowing the death of Duncan by his croaking. He makes Lady Macbeth say,—
"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements."[1]
Duncan, when he entered Lady Macbeth's castle, was in perfect health, but Shakspeare wrote in conformity with the legend, and, indeed, the general belief of the country; and he well knew the passage would take a firm hold on the human mind.
The raven lives at perpetual variance with all the other feathered tribes. Even those species which are far his superiors he annoys incessantly with his attacks, especially when loaded with food, carrying it either to their young, or to a spot where they can devour it without interruption. I once saw a goshawk carrying what I supposed to be a grouse; this was evidently dead, and, sticking out behind the bird, gave it a very curious appearance. Three or four corbies were high in the air, making, from every quarter, repeated attacks on the goshawk, and endeavouring to rob him of his prey. At length, one of them was just striking the noble bird, when, relaxing his hold, the dead creature, whatever it might be, fell straight for the earth. The hawk dived after it with a rapidity perfectly astonishing, and, I think,
- ↑ Othello also says,—
"It comes o'er my memory
As doth the raven o'er th' infected house,
Boding to all."And in Marlowe's 'Jew of Malta,' this passage occurs:—
"The sad presaging raven tells
The sick man's passport in her hollow beak;
And, in the shadow of the silent night,
Doth shake contagion from her sable wing."See also the history of the raven in Wilson's 'American Ornithology.'—Ed.
