xii CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXIV 



PAGE 



The Clerk and the Last Ravens .... 248 



The parish clerk at Itchen Abbas — William Neave's epitaph 

 — The parish clerk's reminiscences — A ghost story — 

 Fascination of the raven — The last ravens at Avington 

 — Tree-climbing feats — Persecution of tame young 

 ravens by the old birds. 



CHAPTER XXV 

 The Temples of the Hills. ..... 257 



History of the chalk hills — Hill-top groves — Their best 

 aspect — Abundance of wild life in them — Carrion- 

 crows — Nesting sparrow-hawks — The fascinating 

 spectacle of the chase — Long-eared owls — The owl as a 

 practical joker — A keeper's gibbet — The great woods 

 of Wiltshire — What is lacking in them. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



Autumn, 1912 ........ 277 



Wells-next-the-Sea — A great man's reason for residing 

 there — The enviable chameleon — Black redstart — 

 Antics of a squirrel — The dreariness of desk-work — 

 Observations on a pair of late-nesting martins — Con- 

 flicting instincts — Swallows observed in mid-winter — 

 A curious story of nesting martins and sparrows. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



Wild Wings: a Farewell 292 



An abundance of wild geese — Hooded crows — Their evening 

 amusements — A sociable mixed gathering — Herons at 

 play — A ringed dotterel's fun — Gull and pewit — Kestrel 

 harried by starlings — Starlings flying in company with 

 wild geese — Behaviour of starling flocks — Wounded 

 goose and redshanks — An inquisitive crow — Evening 

 return of the geese — Migrant crows and fieldfares — 

 Last sight of the wild geese. 



Index 3°9 



