268 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



back on some great wood or forest where one naturally 

 goes in quest of woodland species, even after many- 

 disappointments, to spend a day, or many days, with 

 the feathered inhabitants of one of these isolated groves. 



The birds, too, may be better observed in these places ; 

 they are less terrified at the appearance of the human 

 form than in woods and forests where the pheasant is 

 preserved, and man means (to the bird's mind) a game- 

 keeper with a gun in his hand. For, in many cases, 

 especially in Wiltshire, the hill-groves are on land owned 

 by the farmers themselves, 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- 

 lt 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, whereupon, with a loud croak of terror, 

 he turned instantly, and dashed away at right-angles to 

 his original course at his utmost speed. 



