File:Ornithological rambles in Sussex; with a systematic catalogue of the birds of that county, and remarks on their local distribution. By A. E. Knox (1855) (14562817120).jpg

Identifier: ornithologicalra00knox (find matches)
Title: Ornithological rambles in Sussex; with a systematic catalogue of the birds of that county, and remarks on their local distribution. By A. E. Knox
Year: 1855 (1850s)
Authors: Knox, Arthur Edward
Subjects: Birds -- England Sussex
Publisher: London, J. Van Voorst
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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of the eyrie returnto the fir clump, and haunt the park throughoutthe greater portion of the year. During verysevere weather, accompanied by frost and snow,the raven is sadly puzzled to procure an honestsubsistence in this neighbourhood: he is by na-ture a scavenger, not a poacher: his structureentirely adapts him for fulfilling the duties andsatisfying the wants of the former calling. Un-provided with hooked beak or prehensile claws,he seeks not to attack any living creature as longas a dead animal remains on the surface of theearth. Then, indeed, his hard, conical bill, hiskeen sense of smell, piercing sight, and goule-likeappetite, stand him in good stead; but if, duringlong-continued frost, he should happen still tolinger for awhile in this neighbourhood, he looksthe very picture of despair, as in pensive attitudeand with muffled plumage, his dusky figure maybe noticed perched on some withered boughThen, indeed, Othellos occupations gone,and in his hour of need he may occasionally
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„OTHELL0S OCCUPATIONS GONE THE ravens clump. 157 be convicted of crimes which are foreign to hisnature; but this rarely happens. On such emer-gencies the ravens almost invariably migrate tothe sea-coast, where they subsist on dead fish andMollusca, to which several species of Corvidceappear to be equally partial, and which inducethe carrion and the hooded crows to desert theirinland haunts for the shores at low water, themouths ofthe tide-rivers, and the muddy creeksof Chichester harbour. In their new quarters the ravens now reignunmolested, the nest itself being concealed fromordinary observation among the evergreen boughsnear the summit of one of the tallest trees, so asto escape the notice of the wayfarers who traverseUpperton Common, or pass along the high roadwhich here skirts the ivy-covered park wall.Nay, even within the precincts, where these birdsand their establishment are now held sacred,those who occasionally visit the spot for the ex-press purpose of haviug a look at th

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