258 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



thought to knock it down into his hands, and having 

 selected a small branch for the purpose was engaged 

 in wrenching it off when the squirrel made his jump, 

 and as it came flying down past his head he attempted 

 to capture it, using both hands, but missed it, and at 

 the same time his legs lost their grip on the branch 

 he was on ; and down after the squirrel he came, crash- 

 ing through the higher branches and coming at last 

 with a thud to the earth. He had fallen on his back, 

 and was taken up senseless and terribly injured and 

 sent away to the Hospital at Winchester. For twelve 

 long months he was kept there, on his back, and when 

 sent home was told that he would never be fit to do 

 any outdoor work, although he might perhaps live 

 for some years. They were wrong; he did get per- 

 fectly well, and when I knew him, half a century or 

 more after this terrible accident, he was still hard at 

 work mowing, digging and wood-cutting. 



Two or three years before this terrible fall put an end 

 to his tree-climbing exploits, a member of the ducal 

 family who were then the owners of Avington 

 thought it would be interesting to have some tame 

 ravens as pets, and the young champion climber was 

 instructed to take the fledgelings from the nest in 

 the park. 



When he got up to the nest he was surprised to find 

 six birds, half-fledged ; and he took them all, and all 

 were safely reared at the house. These birds when 

 grown remained perfectly tame although they were 

 never pinioned ; they spent most of their time flying 



