RAVEN (rA'v'n), (Heb. o-rabe' ; Latin, corvus; Sept. K6pat raven; also Luke xii:24, only).
The Hebrew word occurs in Gen. viii:7; Lev. xi :Is; Deut. xiv :14; t Kings xvii :4-6; Job xxxviii :4r, etc. The raven is so generally con founded with the carrion crow, that even in the works of naturalists the figure of the latter has been sometimes substituted for that of the former, and the manners of both have been confused. The raven is the larger, weighing about three pounds ; has proportionally a smaller head and a bill fuller and stouter at the point. Its black color is more iridescent, with gleams of purple passing into green, while that of the crow is more steel-blue; the raven is also gifted with greater sagacity; may be taught to articulate words; is naturally observant and solitary; lives in pairs; has a most acute scent, and flies to a great height.
Whether the raven of Palestine is the common species, or the Corvus Montanus of Temminck, is not quite determined; for there is of the ravens, or greater form of crows, a smaller group in cluding two or three others, all similar in man ners, and unlike the carrion crows (Corvus Corone, Linn.), which are gregarious, and seem
ingly identical in both hemispheres. Sometimes a pair of ravens will descend without fear among a flight of crows, take possession of the carrion that may have attracted them, and keep the crows at a distance till they themselves are gorged. The habits of the whole genus, typified by the name orabe, render it unclean in the Hebrew law; and the malignant, ominous expression of the raven. together with the color of its plumage, powers of voice, and solitary habits, are the causes• of that universal and often superstitious attention with which mankind have ever regarded it. This bird is the first mentioned in the Bible as being sent forth by Noah out of the ark on the subsiding of the waters; and in r Kings xvii :4 ravens bring flesh and hread at morning and evening to the prophet Elijah.