262 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



the human form than in woods and forests where 

 the pheasant is preserved, and man. means (to the 

 bird's mind) a gamekeeper with a gun in his hand. 

 For, in many cases, especially in Wiltshire, the 

 hill-groves are on land owned by the farmers them- 

 selves, who keep their own shootings and do not 

 employ a gamekeeper. 



One day I was standing under a low oak tree at 

 the highest point in an immense wood, where the 

 sight could range for a long distance over the tree- 

 tops, when I was astonished at the sight of a carrion 

 crow flying low over the trees and coming straight 

 towards me. It was a wonderful thing to see in that 

 place where I had spent several days, and had seen 

 no crow and no bird of any kind banned by the 

 keepers. Yet this was one of the largest woods in 

 Wiltshire, in appearance an absolutely wild forest, 

 covering many miles without a village or house within 

 a mile of its borders on any side, and with no human 

 occupants except the four or five keepers who ranged 

 it to look after its millionaire owner's pheasants. 

 The crow did not catch sight of me until within about 

 forty yards from the tree under which I stood, where- 

 upon, with a loud croak of terror, he turned instantly, 

 and dashed away at right-angles to his original course 

 at his utmost speed. 



Leaving the great wood, I went a few miles away 

 to visit one of the large unprotected clumps, and 

 found there a family of four carrion crows — two 

 adults and two young; at my approach they flapped 

 heavily from the tree in which they were resting, and 



