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An Incident of the Crimean War: Raven

The Compassionate Raven; or, Sympathy for Suffering.

C HIS feeling so highly characteristic of benevolence and of kindness of heart in the human race, is most powerfully felt in the animal world. It is less surprising when extended from one to another by those of the same species, but is particularly so when exercised between those of different habits and orders. There must exist a fellow-feeling, a knowledge of the suffering felt, and a desire to alleviate it-faculties so far exceeding the highest degree of intelligence ordinarily ascribed to the brute creation, that it must be acknowledged that they are endowed with powers in which instinct takes no share. A wounded crow, left in a field, is soon surrounded by its fellows, seeking to assist it; a swallow entangled in its nest by a bit of thread, was immediately aided by many other swallows, which flew violently against the thread with a view of breaking it.

There is an anecdote told at the Red Lion Inn, Hungerford, England, of a circumstance which occurred there some years ago. A traveller, coming into the inn yard with his chaise, ran over and bruised the leg of a Newfoundland dog, and while the injury was being examined, a raven stood by as a concerned spectator; for as soon as the dog was tied up under the manger, the raven not only visited him, but brought him bones, and attended him with particular and repeated marks of kindness. Besides the sympathy in the bird, there was also a remarkable instance of recollection and of association of ideas, for the bird had been brought up with a dog, between whom the affection was mutual; and this dog having broken its leg, the Raven attended it constantly while it was confined, waiting on it, carrying it provisions, and never scarcely leaving it. On one occasion, when the stable-door had been shut, and the Raven had been deprived of the company of its friend all night, the hostler found in the morning the door so pecked away, that had it not been opened, the Raven would have made its entrance in another hour. Several other acts of kindness to dogs had been noticed, and particularly to maimed or wounded ones. We illustrate this fact to show that there is something a little more than instinct in beasts and birds, and that reason is as definite in the higher order of animal as in the lower order of the human.

A A Ghost Imposture Exposed.