Popular Superstitions: The raven (colour litho)

The raven. Of all "birds of ill omen" the raven easily takes first place. In many countries, even to-day, he is regarded as the possessor of mysterious intelligence, probably because of his lonely habits. His reputation as a carrion-feeder dates from the Flood: his failure to return to the Ark being suggestive of the fare that awaited him in the way of drowned creatures. He also devours the young of other animals, and lastly - he is black. He figures largely in poetry and legend as a bird of augury. Our picture illustrates a passage from the well-known poem. "The Raven," by Edgar Allen Poe. Illustration for one of a set of 25 cigarette cards on the subject of Popular Superstitions issued by Godfrey Phillips in 1930.