BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 21 



have heard from a Patagonian mother when 

 singing her "swart papoose" to sleep. Still, I 

 would gladly have spared many of these wood- 

 land crooners for the sake of one magpie — that 

 bird of fine feathers and a bright mind, which I 

 had not looked on for a whole year, and now 

 hoped to see again. But he was not there; and 

 after I had looked for myself, some of the natives 

 assured me that no magpie had been seen for 

 years in that wood. 



For a time I feared that I was to be just as 

 unlucky with regard to the jay, seeing that the 

 owner of the extensive beech woods adjoining the 

 village permitted his keeper to kill the most in- 

 teresting birds in it — kestrels and sparrowhawks, 

 owls, jays, and magpies. He was a new man, 

 comparatively, in the place, and wanted to in- 

 crease his preserves, but to do this it was neces- 

 sary first to exclude the villagers — the Badgers, 

 who were no doubt partial to pheasants' eggs. 

 Now, to close an ancient right-of-way is a ticklish 

 business, and this was an Important one, seeing 

 that the village women did their Saturday market- 

 ing in the town beyond the wood and river, and 

 with the path closed they would have two miles 



