DAWS IN THE WEST COUNTRY 65 



had no sooner let the stick fall than he rushed down 

 after it to attempt its recovery, just as one may see 

 a sparrow drop a feather or straw, and then dart 

 down after it and often recover it before it touches 

 the ground. The heavy stick fell straight and fast 

 on to the pile of sticks already lying on the pavement, 

 and instantly the daw was down and had it in his 

 beak, and thereupon laboriously flew up to his 

 nesting-place, which was forty to fifty feet high. 

 At the moment that he rushed down after the falling 

 stick two other daws that happened to be standing 

 on ledges above dropped down after him, and copied 

 his action by each picking up a stick and flying with 

 it to their nests. Other daws followed suit, and in 

 a few minutes there was a stream of descending and 

 ascending daws at that spot, every ascending bird 

 with a stick in his beak. It was curious to see that 

 although sticks were lying in hundreds on the pave- 

 ment along the entire breadth of the west front, the 

 daws continued coming down only at that spot 

 where the first bird had picked up the stick he 

 had dropped. By and by, to my regret, the birds 

 suddenly took alarm at something and rose up, and 

 from that moment not one descended. 



Presently the man came round with his rake and 

 broom and barrow to tidy up the place. Before 



