Raven

A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus

Corvus. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within
the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and
"ravens", and these appellations have been assigned to different
species chiefly on the basis of their size.

The largest raven species are the common raven and the thick-
billed raven.
In flight

Contents
Etymology
Current species
Extinct species
See also
References
External links

Etymology
The term ‘raven’ originally referred to the common raven (Corvus corax), the type species of the genus
Corvus, which has a larger distribution than any other species of Corvus, ranging over much of the
Northern Hemisphere.

The modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages, including Old Norse (and
subsequently modern Icelandic) hrafn[1] and Old High German (h)raban,[2] all of which descend from
Proto-Germanic *hrabanaz.[3]

Collective nouns for a group of ravens (or at least the common raven) include ‘rave’,[4] ‘treachery’,[5]
‘unkindness’[6] and ‘conspiracy’.[7] In practice most people use the more generic ‘flock’.[8]

Current species
Corvus albicollis – white-necked raven (eastern and southern Africa)
Corvus corax – common raven (northern hemisphere)
Corvus coronoides – Australian raven (Australia)
Corvus crassirostris – thick-billed raven (Horn of Africa)
Corvus cryptoleucus – Chihuahuan raven (United States and Mexico)
Corvus mellori – little raven (southeastern Australia)
Corvus rhipidurus – fan-tailed raven (eastern Africa and Arabian peninsula)
 Corvus ruficollis – brown-necked raven (northern Africa, Arabian peninsula, Greater Middle
East)
Corvus tasmanicus – forest raven (Tasmania, southern Victoria and north-east NSW in
Australia)

Head of a common raven Common ravens

Chihuahuan raven Fan-tailed raven

Australian raven Raven with a damaged wing. It

can still fly with ease.
Extinct species
†Corvus moriorum – Chatham raven
†Corvus antipodum – New Zealand raven
†Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus – pied raven

See also
Cultural depictions of ravens
Ravens of the Tower of London

References
1. Oxford English Dictionary entry for "raven".
2. Simpson, J.; Weiner, E., eds. (1989). "Raven". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford:
Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.
3. "Raven" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=raven). Online Etymology Dictionary.
Retrieved 14 May 2007.
4. Lipton, James (1991). An Exaltation of Larks (https://books.google.com/books?id=AVNazQE
ACAAJ). Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-30044-0.
5. "Baltimore Bird Club. Group Name for Birds: A Partial List" (http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlis
t.html). Retrieved 3 June 2007.
6. "Baltimore Bird Club. Group Name for Birds: A Partial List" (http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlis
t.html). Retrieved 3 June 2007.
7. "University of California Golf Club. List of Collective Nouns" (http://www.ucgc.org/terms-for-c
ollections.htm). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20040918183029/http://www.ucgc.or
g/terms-for-collections.htm) from the original on 18 September 2004. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
8. "Google Ngram Viewer" (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=flock+of+ravens,
unkindness+of+ravens,treachery+of+ravens,conspiracy+of+ravens&year_start=1900&year_
end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cflock%20of%20raven
s%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunkindness%20of%20ravens%3B%2Cc0t1;,flock%20of%20r
avens;,c0;.t1;,unkindness%20of%20ravens;,c0). books.google.com. Retrieved 5 January
2020.

External links
Raven videos (http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/crows-corvidae) on the Internet Bird Collection
North American ravens (https://web.archive.org/web/20101229105854/http://enature.com/fiel
dguides/view_default.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=raven) on eNature

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This page was last edited on 22 February 2022, at 21:25 (UTC).

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