Part 2 — CHAPTER XV THE RAVEN
D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott translation
Raven.—The Raven,[147] though a carrion feeder, has just claims to be considered a Bird of Prey. I recollect once seeing a raven in the jungle seize a wild chukor; I eventually succeeded in releasing the bird from its clutches.
It is a peculiarity of the Raven that if it is deprived of sight by having its eyeballs pierced with a needle, it may, by confinement in darkness for the space of twenty-four hours, be completely restored to sight.
In ʿArabistān it is caught in traps and trained for fowling in the same manner that the Kestril[148] is trained in the Dashtistān[149] of Fārs, and the eagle-owl in Kirmānshāh[150] and elsewhere.
FOOTNOTES:
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Kulāg͟h-i siyāh-i quzqūn. I once saw a pair of ravens harassing a wild hare by pulling tufts of hair and skin out of it. Had I not interfereNote 2 · Vide chapter XXV, page 69 for method of training for fowling purposes. I heard of the raven being thus trained and used as a “lure” for charNote 3 · Dashtistān of Fārs; a warm region fringing the west of the Persian Gulf: Bushire is nearly the centre of its coast line.Note 4 · Kirmānshāh is a district about 250 miles north of Baṣrah (Bussora): its capital is said to be locally called Kirmānshāhān.