28 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



more shilling pieces and tossed them quickly one 

 by one, and he caught them without a miss and 

 placed them one by one with the other, not scat- 

 tered about, but in a neat pile. Then, seeing that 

 I had no more shillings he flew off. 



After these few playful passages with one of 

 his birds, I could understand Melford's feehng 

 about his free pet jays, magpies and jackdaws; 

 they were not merely birds to him, but rather like 

 so many delightful little children in the beautiful 

 shape of birds. 



There was no rookery in or near the village, 

 but a large flock of rooks were always to be seen 

 feeding and sunning themselves in some level 

 meadows near the river. It struck me one day 

 as a very fine sight, when an old bird, who looked 

 larger and blacker and greyer-faced than the 

 others, and might have been the father and leader 

 of them all, got up on a low post, and with wide- 

 open beak poured forth a long series of most 

 impressive caws. One always wonders at the 

 meaning of such displays. Is the old bird ad- 



