148 ORXITIIOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XIY. 



" Fortunate senex, hie inter flumina nota, 

 Et fontes sacros, frigus captabis opacum." 



ViRGIIi. 



Petwortli Ravens — Expulsion — Gamekeeper's Strategy 

 — Return — Hollow Beech Trees — Colony of Jack- 

 daws — The Skirmish — Mob Routed — Unexpected 

 Abdicatioa — Stronghold Demolished — Periodical 

 Departure — Early Lessons — The Raven's Clump 

 — Retreat Discovered — Rape of the Squabs — Dis- 

 appearance of the old Birds — Plunderer Detected 

 — The Lost Heir Restored — Result. 



There are few circumstances which have afforded 

 me greater pleasure, or which, on reflection, I 

 regard with more complacency and satisfaction, 

 than my success in advocating the cause of the 

 raven in this neighbourhood, and even in con- 

 verting those who were once his enemies and per- 

 secutors into his friends and admirers. 



For many years the raven had here been but 

 little known. This might in some measure have 



