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 feeling 

 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. 



.• •, ;•: i»j i«j ;*i 



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- 



