Evening star., 1915-02-13
THE AMERICAN RAVEN.
Found Now Only in Retreats in the
Rocky Mountains.
From the Chicago Post.

From the Chicago Post.
The raven has gained little in the
affections of the people from his kindly
act of supplying Elijah. the prophet,
with food when hunger pressed him
The raven Is thought of as bird OF
ill-omen wherever his black shadow
appears. He is the sinister bird, and he
cannot shake from his feathers his
evil name, though it be only in part
deserved.
How can any one be supposed to cul-
tivate affection for a bird of whom a
The sad-presag;ng raven tolls
The sick mans passport In her hollow beak,
And In the shadow OF the silent nig-
Doth shake contagion from her sable wing.
The raven is passing. Already ii has
almost entirely disappeared from the
can raven was fairly common in our
middle western country, in New Eng
land and in the lower ranges OF the
Allegheny mountains. Today it is only
occasionally to be seen in it's ancient
haunts.
In the Rocky mountains, however,
where men are scarce, the raven is
holding it's own. 1t builds it's nest on
the edge of the lodges of the fnaccessi-
BILE cliffs and sighting its foe from afar
it keeps the distance in which lies
safety.
The raven is ugly in shape. as 1t is in
voice. 1CS sole beauty lies III the iuStci
| of it's feathers when the sun strikes
them full and fair. 1t is a bearded
bird, with high shoulders and certain
| bumps and humps here and there to
make it's form seem utterly lost to
symmetry.
| The bird is not altogether bad. 1t
robs the nests of other birds, and it is
| this trait of character which has lost 1t
caste and life in England. The game
keeper shoots 1t on sight and in recent
nj
| the museum collectors have been hunt
| ing the raven in all places where 1t is
reported to have dared to show its
head.
The raven is the bird of books. 1t
has a larger place in literature. per-
haps, than all other birds combined, II
we except the eagle. Shakespeare men
tions it no less than fifty times. Milton
did not neglect it, and all the poets, an
cient, medieval and modern. have con-
sidered the raven.
r. Bosworth Smith, an Englishman.
recently has made an exhaustive study
of the place of the raven in folklore, IN
religious legends and in literature. 1t
is a curious commentary on the people
of some Christian nations that they
should hold the raven in adherence.
when the legends. and in some cases
the authentic histories. of the church
tell them that the bird which they
shun was the companion of dozen or
so Of saints and martyrs who gained
rather than lost IN Sanctlty from the
companionship.
We are told that the raven was the
beloved companion of St. Oswald and
St. Hugh and that he was of great
service in many ways to st. Athana-
sius, st. Paul the Hermit, st. Vincent
and St. Benedict. The raven, SO the
story goes, drove away the wild beasts
to whom the body Of st. Vincent was
thrown after his martyrdom. The bird
mounted guard over the sanity re-
mains and stood true to his charge
until the saints brethren came and
carried his body away to give it
sepulcher.
The American raven probably will be
safe in his Rocky mountain haunts for
years to come, but he is so far re-
moved from mans habitations that his
picturesqueness, his oddities, his grav-
tiles and his croakings virtually are
lost to the world. 1t is hard state of
affairs when individuality in animal
life brings persecution and death.
The probabilities are that the raven
does more good than it does harm. 1t
kills thousands of young rodents that
would grow up to become pests of the
field, but it seems foreordained that a
bird shall suffer for its one bad act,
while it's two good acts weigh moth
ing in the scales.