Maybe it’s the evocative, iridescent black and purple feathers. Or its tendency in earlier times closely to track wandering tribes of humans, who always could be counted on to discard a tasty morsel.

The search for Common Ravens: In May of 2002, I wrote a column in which I explained to “Connie” that Cape Cod has plenty of crows, but no ravens. It is thought we did have ravens in the 1600s, but ...